Blaže Koneski
Encyclopedia
Blaže Koneski (December 19, 1921 – December 7, 1993) (born in Nebregovo
, near Prilep
, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, now Republic of Macedonia
) was one of the most distinguished Macedonian
poets, writers, literary translators, and linguistic scholars. His major contributions are in the codification of the Standard Macedonian language
.
, famous Macedonian Serb Chetnik during the fightings over Macedonia 1895-1910.
He received Royal Serbian scholarship to study in the Kragujevac
gymnasium (high school). Later, he studied medicine at the University of Belgrade
, and then changed to Serbian language
and literature
. After the graduation, he worked as a lector in the Macedonian National Theater, and in 1946 he joined the faculty at the Philosophy Department of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, where he worked until his retirement.
He was a member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
since 1967, and was elected its president in 1967 - 1975. Koneski was also a member of the Zagreb
(Croatia
), Belgrade
(Serbia
), Ljubljana
(Slovenia
) and Łódź (Poland
) Academies of Sciences and Arts, and honorary doctor of the Universities of Chicago
, US, and Kraków
in Poland.
He died in Skopje
on 7.12.1993. and received a state funeral for his distinguished literary career and for his contributions in the codification of the Standard Macedonian Language.
Koneski was distinguished translator of poetry from German, Russian, Slovenian, Serbian and Polish, and he translated the works of Njegos
, Preshern
, Heine
, Blok
, Neruda
, and others.
prize, Njegoš prize, the Golden Wreath ("Zlaten Venec") of the Struga Poetry Evenings
, Award of the Writer’s Association of USSR, Herder Prize
and others.
The Faculty of Philology at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje is named after Blaze Koneski.
standard language
. He is the author of the works About the Macedonian Standard Language , Grammar of the Macedonian Standard Language , History of the Macedonian Language , and others.
He was one of the editors of the Dictionary of the Macedonian Language.
, the Miladinov Brothers
, Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov-Dzhinot
and others."Скопската икона Блаже Конески, македонски лингвист или сръбски политработник?" Драгни Драгнев ; "The icon from Skopje Blazhe Koneski, Macedonian linguist, or a Serbian political functionary" Dragni Dragnev - the author is born in Voden, Macedonia in 1932 and now resides in Canada
Dolneni municipality
Dolneni is a municipality in central Republic of Macedonia. Dolneni is also the name of the village where the municipal seat is found. The municipality is part of the Pelagonia Statistical Region.-Geography:...
, near Prilep
Prilep
Prilep is the fourth largest city in the Republic of Macedonia. It has a population of 66,246 citizens. Prilep is known as "the city under Marko's Towers" because of its proximity to the towers of Prince Marko.-Name:...
, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, now Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
) was one of the most distinguished Macedonian
Macedonians (ethnic group)
The Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs: "... the term Slavomacedonian was introduced and was accepted by the community itself, which at the time had a much more widespread non-Greek Macedonian ethnic consciousness...
poets, writers, literary translators, and linguistic scholars. His major contributions are in the codification of the Standard Macedonian language
Macedonian language
Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...
.
Biography
He was the nephew of Gligor SokolovićGligor Sokolović
Gligor Sokolović was a Macedonian Serb Chetnik with the rank of Veliki Vojvoda . He was a deputy of the Serbian National Assembly in Skopje...
, famous Macedonian Serb Chetnik during the fightings over Macedonia 1895-1910.
He received Royal Serbian scholarship to study in the Kragujevac
Kragujevac
Kragujevac is the fourth largest city in Serbia, the main city of the Šumadija region and the administrative centre of Šumadija District. It is situated on the banks of the Lepenica River...
gymnasium (high school). Later, he studied medicine at the University of Belgrade
University of Belgrade
The University of Belgrade is the oldest and largest university of Serbia.Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-based departments into a single university...
, and then changed to Serbian language
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
and literature
Serbian literature
Serbian literature refers to literature written in Serbian and/or in Serbia.The history of Serbian literature begins with theological works from the 10th- and 11th centuries, developing in the 13th century by Saint Sava and his disciples...
. After the graduation, he worked as a lector in the Macedonian National Theater, and in 1946 he joined the faculty at the Philosophy Department of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, where he worked until his retirement.
He was a member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most eminent academic institution in the Republic of Macedonia.-History:The Academy of Sciences and Arts was established by the Macedonian Assembly on 22 February 1967 as the highest scientific, scholarly and artistic institution in the country...
since 1967, and was elected its president in 1967 - 1975. Koneski was also a member of the Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
(Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
), Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
(Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
), Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
(Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
) and Łódź (Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
) Academies of Sciences and Arts, and honorary doctor of the Universities of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, US, and Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
in Poland.
He died in Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
on 7.12.1993. and received a state funeral for his distinguished literary career and for his contributions in the codification of the Standard Macedonian Language.
Literary works
Koneski wrote poetry and prose. His most famous collections of poetry are Mostot, Pesni, Zemjata i ljubovta, Vezilka, Zapisi, Cesmite, Stari i novi pesni, Seizmograf, and others. His collection of short stories Vineyard is also famous.Koneski was distinguished translator of poetry from German, Russian, Slovenian, Serbian and Polish, and he translated the works of Njegos
Petar II Petrovic-Njegoš
Petar II Petrović-Njegoš , was a Serbian Orthodox Prince-Bishop of Montenegro , who transformed Montenegro from a theocracy into a secular state. However, he is most famous as a poet...
, Preshern
France Prešeren
France Prešeren was a Slovene Romantic poet. He is considered the Slovene national poet. Although he was not a particularly prolific author, he inspired virtually all Slovene literature thereafter....
, Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
, Blok
Alexander Blok
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok was a Russian lyrical poet.-Life and career:Blok was born in Saint Petersburg, into a sophisticated and intellectual family. Some of his relatives were literary men, his father being a law professor in Warsaw, and his maternal grandfather the rector of Saint Petersburg...
, Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
, and others.
Awards and recognitions
Blaze Koneski has won a number of literary prizes and international recognitions among which are the AVNOJAVNOJ
The Anti-Fascist Council of the People's Liberation of Yugoslavia, known more commonly by its Yugoslav abbreviation AVNOJ, was the political umbrella organization for the national liberation councils of the Yugoslav resistance against the World War II Axis occupation, eventually becoming the...
prize, Njegoš prize, the Golden Wreath ("Zlaten Venec") of the Struga Poetry Evenings
Struga Poetry Evenings
Struga Poetry Evenings is an international poetry festival held annually in Struga, Republic of Macedonia. During the several decades of its existence, the Festival has awarded its most prestigious award, the Golden Wreath, to some of the most notable international poets, including: Mahmoud...
, Award of the Writer’s Association of USSR, Herder Prize
Herder Prize
The Herder Prize, established in 1963 and named for Johann Gottfried von Herder, was a prestigious international prize dedicated to the promotion of scientific, art and literature relations, and presented to scholars and artists from Central and Southeastern Europe whose life and work have improved...
and others.
The Faculty of Philology at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje is named after Blaze Koneski.
Work on the Macedonian Standard Language
Koneski is remembered for his work on codifying the MacedonianMacedonian language
Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...
standard language
Standard language
A standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
. He is the author of the works About the Macedonian Standard Language , Grammar of the Macedonian Standard Language , History of the Macedonian Language , and others.
He was one of the editors of the Dictionary of the Macedonian Language.
Criticism
The Bulgarian journalist Dragni Dragnev accused Koneski of manipulating historical facts for political goals, with regard to his statements regarding the past of poets and writers from Macedonia such as Kiril PeychinovichKiril Peychinovich
Kiril Peychinovich or Kiril Pejčinoviḱ was a cleric, writer and enlightener, one of the first supporters of the use of modern Bulgarian in literature , and one of the early figures of the Bulgarian National Revival...
, the Miladinov Brothers
Miladinov Brothers
The Miladinov Brothers , Dimitar Miladinov and Konstantin Miladinov , were Bulgarian poets and folklorists from Macedonia, authors of an important collection of folk songs, Bulgarian Folk Songs...
, Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov-Dzhinot
Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov-Dzhinot
Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov, called Dzhinot , was a Bulgarian teacher, publicist and an important figure of the Bulgarian National Revival during 19-th century...
and others."Скопската икона Блаже Конески, македонски лингвист или сръбски политработник?" Драгни Драгнев ; "The icon from Skopje Blazhe Koneski, Macedonian linguist, or a Serbian political functionary" Dragni Dragnev - the author is born in Voden, Macedonia in 1932 and now resides in Canada