Mira Mihelič, also known as Mira Kramer Puc (14 Julij 1912 - 4 September 1985) was a Slovene writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 and translator.

Biography

Mira Mihelič was born in Split

Split (city)

Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...

 on 14.julij 1912, then Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 (now in 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 ...

) as Mira Kramer. She went to school in 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...

 and studied law for a while. She then became a professional writer and translator, one of the most noted Slovene literary figures of the 20th century. She was a longtime member of Slovene and international writers' societies, serving as president of the Slovene Writers' Association

Slovene Writers' Association

The Slovene Writers' Association is a non-profit association of Slovene writers based in Ljubljana.The Association was founded on 21 April 1872 in Ljubljana at the initiative of Davorin Trstenjak who also became its first president. It operated under various names over the years and re-adopted its...

 and Slovene PEN from 1973 also vice-president of International PEN

International PEN

PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....

. It was largely due to her efforts that international meetings organised by Slovene PEN began, an annual event that continues to date. She died in Ljubljana in 1985.

Work

Mihelič's first novels Obraz v zrcalu (Face in the Mirror) (1941) and Tiha Voda (Quiet Waters) (1942) are descriptions of life in the comfortable world and aristocratic atmosphere of family traditions where a culture of fairly earnt wealth, respect and pride prevails. She then soon discovered her own personal view of the descriptive world of literature in which she juxtaposes respect with irony, enthusiasm with repulsion, class allegiance with attempts to escape from it etc. Her characters are torn between traditions, respect, controlling their feelings on the one side and lust and ambition on the other with love, intrigue, political power and wealthy playing a key role. A special place in given to the emancipated and independent modern woman rebelling against the traditional devoted role of women of her mother and grandmother's generation in favour of emotional fulfilment, though this does not necessarily mean the idealisation of women. An example of this is the heroine of her 1959 novel April, taking place in the first months of the Second World War. In Stolpnica osamelih žensk (1969) and Vrnite se, sinovi (1972) she further develops the irony in her descriptions of characters and gestures. Tujec v Emoni (1978) and Cesta dveh cesarsjev (1981) are historical novels about intrigues in ancient Emona

Emona

Emona or Aemona, short for Colonia Iulia emona, was a Roman castrum founded in 14-15 AD, possibly by the Legio XV Apollinaris , on a territory already populated by ancient settlers of uncertain origin...

 and a love story at the time of the Congress of Laibach

Congress of Laibach

The Congress of Laibach was a conference of the allied sovereigns or their representatives, held in 1821 as part of the so-called Concert of Europe, which was the decided attempt of the Great Powers to settle international problems after the Napoleonic Wars through discussion and collective weight...

 respectively. Her final novel Ure mojih dni (1985) is a memoir

Memoir

A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...

. She also wrote novels for younger readers such as Pridi, moj mili Ariel (1965) and Puhkova kresna noč (1972).
In 1963 she was awarded the Sovre Prize for her Slovene translations of the William Faulkner

William Faulkner

William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...

's Light in August

Light in August

Light in August is a 1932 novel by the American author William Faulkner.Light in August is an exploration of racial conflict in the society of the Southern United States. Originally Faulkner planned to call the novel Dark House, which also became the working title for Absalom, Absalom!...

, Thomas Wolfe

Thomas Wolfe

Thomas Clayton Wolfe was a major American novelist of the early 20th century.Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels, plus many short stories, dramatic works and novellas. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing...

's Look Homeward, Angel

Look Homeward, Angel

Look Homeward, Angel: A Story of the Buried Life is a 1929 novel by Thomas Wolfe. It is Wolfe's first novel, and is considered a highly autobiographical American Bildungsroman. The character of Eugene Gant is generally believed to be a depiction of Wolfe himself. The novel covers the span of time...

 and Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...

's The Pickwick Papers

The Pickwick Papers

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club is the first novel by Charles Dickens. After the publication, the widow of the illustrator Robert Seymour claimed that the idea for the novel was originally her husband's; however, in his preface to the 1867 edition, Dickens strenuously denied any...

. In 1983 she won the Prešeren Award

Prešeren Award

Prešeren Award is the highest decoration in the field of artistic and in the past also scientific creation in Slovenia awarded each year to one or two eminent Slovene artists...

 for lifetime achievement.

She was married to the painter France Mihelič.

Selected works

• April (1959)
• Vrnite se, sinovi (Return, my Sons) (1972)
• Plamen in dim (Flma and Smoke) (1973)
• Pridi, moj mili Ariel (Come, My Gentle Ariel) (1965)
• Tujec v Emoni (A Stranger in Emona) (1978)
• Cesta dveh cesarjev (The Road of Two Emperors) (1981)
• Svet brez sovraštva (A World without Hatred) (1945) play
  Play (theatre)
  A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
  
  
• Operacija (Operation) (1950) play
• Ure mojih dni (The Hours of my Days) (1985)