Janez Menart
Encyclopedia
Janez Menart (29 September 1929 - 22 January 2004) has been one of the most influential and most widely sold Slovenia
n poets, translators and screenwriter
s from the first post-war
generation. He published a series of poem collections well received by readers and critics alike, and translated to Slovene numerous classical French and English poetry and drama works.
. His mother was a theatre actress. She soon fell ill, so the family moved back to Ljubljana
. His father worked as an emergency medical technician
and committed suicide when Janez was seven years old. His mother died eight years later.
Due to poor social circumstances Janez and his older sister lived almost from the beginning of schooling in the boarding school
s. Janez was able to enter grammar school only because he won one of the four scholarship
s offered by Drava Banovina
in 1940. Having finished it he attended the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana
where he graduated in Slovene philology and in comparative literature
studies.
After compulsory military service he was at first a publisher's reader
, then a stage director and finally a director of puppet section at Triglav film
. In that time he also married and got a daughter. Since 1963, when he left film, he earned his money by writing and translation.
Then he employed himself as the editor of drama editorial board at RTV Ljubljana. Due to political circumstances he was later degraded to a stage director and in the final three years he worked as a translator for current needs. In 1979 he decided to leave his job and employ himself as a programme leader of the book sales club
Svet knjige at Mladinska knjiga. He stayed there till his retirement in 1990.
He died in Ljubljana due to a hospital infection.
lyrics have been set to music, some of them have also been recorded on cassettes and discs.
Menart began seriously writing songs when he was 15 and had first of them published in the last two years of attending grammar school. He gradually published them in a continuously larger number of literary journals and by radio. His career of a prominent literate began in 1953 when he published the collection Poems of the Four in collaboration with Kajetan Kovič
, Tone Pavček
and Ciril Zlobec
. His poetry is traditionally confessional, the narration realistic and satirical while the form rests on traditional meter with romantic images and everyday reality. Also well known are his epigram
s.
Menart complemented original poetry by translating foreign language literature. Slovenes have to thank him for, among others, the excellent translations of Shakespeare's Sonnets
, Byron
's, Burns
's and Prévert
's poetry and Villon
's Collected Works. He also translated English Renaissance
plays such as Volpone
by Jonson
and Doctor Faustus
by Christopher Marlowe
.
Although mainly known as a poet and translator, Menart also wrote scripts for puppet and documentary film
s and television play
s. He was also the first in Slovenia to publish a CD audiobook, with his poems largely interpreted by he himself.
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...
n poets, translators and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
s from the first post-war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
generation. He published a series of poem collections well received by readers and critics alike, and translated to Slovene numerous classical French and English poetry and drama works.
Biography
Menart was born in MariborMaribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....
. His mother was a theatre actress. She soon fell ill, so the family moved back to 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...
. His father worked as an emergency medical technician
Emergency medical technician
Emergency Medical Technician or Ambulance Technician are terms used in some countries to denote a healthcare provider of emergency medical services...
and committed suicide when Janez was seven years old. His mother died eight years later.
Due to poor social circumstances Janez and his older sister lived almost from the beginning of schooling in the boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
s. Janez was able to enter grammar school only because he won one of the four scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
s offered by Drava Banovina
Drava Banovina
The Drava Banovina or Drava Banate was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. This province consisted of most of present-day Slovenia and was named for the Drava River...
in 1940. Having finished it he attended the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana
University of Ljubljana
The University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...
where he graduated in Slovene philology and in comparative literature
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...
studies.
After compulsory military service he was at first a publisher's reader
Publisher's reader
A publisher's reader or first reader is a person paid by a publisher or book club to read manuscripts from the slush pile, and to advise their employers as to quality and marketability of the work. They can exercise considerable influence over the offerings of the publishers for whom they worked,...
, then a stage director and finally a director of puppet section at Triglav film
Triglav Film
Triglav Film is a Slovenian film studio based in Ljubljana. Established in 1947, it is the second studio founded in post-World War II Yugoslavia. It is named after Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia, which is also the name of a pagan deity....
. In that time he also married and got a daughter. Since 1963, when he left film, he earned his money by writing and translation.
Then he employed himself as the editor of drama editorial board at RTV Ljubljana. Due to political circumstances he was later degraded to a stage director and in the final three years he worked as a translator for current needs. In 1979 he decided to leave his job and employ himself as a programme leader of the book sales club
Book sales club
A book sales club is a subscription-based method of selling and purchasing books. It is more often called simply a book club, a term that is also used to describe a book discussion club, which can cause confusion.-How book sales clubs work:...
Svet knjige at Mladinska knjiga. He stayed there till his retirement in 1990.
He died in Ljubljana due to a hospital infection.
Work
Janez Menart was one of the most popular Slovene poets in the second half of the 20th century. Over four hundred of his individuals poems have been translated to about 25 foreign languages and over half of these translations were published in independent editions. Over one hundred of his poems and chansonChanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
lyrics have been set to music, some of them have also been recorded on cassettes and discs.
Menart began seriously writing songs when he was 15 and had first of them published in the last two years of attending grammar school. He gradually published them in a continuously larger number of literary journals and by radio. His career of a prominent literate began in 1953 when he published the collection Poems of the Four in collaboration with Kajetan Kovič
Kajetan Kovič
Kajetan Kovič is a Slovene poet, writer, translator and journalist. He is best known for his poems and has written several bestselling children's books....
, Tone Pavček
Tone Pavček
Tone Pavček was one of the most influential Slovene poets, translators and essayists from the first post-war generation. He published a number of collections of poetry, well received by readers and critics alike...
and Ciril Zlobec
Ciril Zlobec
Ciril Zlobec is a Slovene poet, writer, translator, journalist and former politician. He is best known for his poems and has published several volumes of poetry...
. His poetry is traditionally confessional, the narration realistic and satirical while the form rests on traditional meter with romantic images and everyday reality. Also well known are his epigram
Epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, usually memorable and sometimes surprising statement. Derived from the epigramma "inscription" from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein "to write on inscribe", this literary device has been employed for over two millennia....
s.
Menart complemented original poetry by translating foreign language literature. Slovenes have to thank him for, among others, the excellent translations of Shakespeare's Sonnets
Shakespeare's sonnets
Shakespeare's sonnets are 154 poems in sonnet form written by William Shakespeare, dealing with themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality. All but two of the poems were first published in a 1609 quarto entitled SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS.: Never before imprinted. Sonnets 138 and 144...
, Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
's, Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
's and Prévert
Jacques Prévert
Jacques Prévert was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain very popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. Some of the movies he wrote are extremely well regarded, with Les Enfants du Paradis considered one of the greatest films of all time.-Life and...
's poetry and Villon
François Villon
François Villon was a French poet, thief, and vagabond. He is perhaps best known for his Testaments and his Ballade des Pendus, written while in prison...
's Collected Works. He also translated English Renaissance
English Renaissance
The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the late 15th and early 16th centuries to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century; like most of northern...
plays such as Volpone
Volpone
Volpone is a comedy by Ben Jonson first produced in 1606, drawing on elements of city comedy, black comedy and beast fable...
by Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
and Doctor Faustus
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faust story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge...
by Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
.
Although mainly known as a poet and translator, Menart also wrote scripts for puppet and documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s and television play
Television play
From the 1950s until the early 1980s, the television play was a popular television programming genre in the United Kingdom, with a shorter span in the United States. The genre was often associated with the social realist-influenced British drama style known as "kitchen sink realism", which depicted...
s. He was also the first in Slovenia to publish a CD audiobook, with his poems largely interpreted by he himself.