Dominik Smole

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Dominik Smole
Born(1929-08-24)24 August 1929[1]
Ljubljana, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (now in Slovenia)
Died29 July 1992(1992-07-29) (aged 62)
Ljubljana, Slovenia
OccupationWriter, playwright
Literary movementExistentialism
Notable worksAntigona [sl]

Dominik Smole (24 August 1929 – 29 July 1992) was a Slovenian writer and playwright.

Biography

Smole was born in

Slovene Youth Theatre and later at the Drama Theatre. There he met Jože Javoršek, Žarko Petan and Bojan Štih
who influenced him in searching for new modes of expression in theatre.

In the mid 1950s we worked at

Titoist regime in Slovenia. After the demise of the group, which came with the imprisonment of Jože Pučnik and the suppression of the Stage '57 and the group's two literary magazines, Revija 57 and Perspektive, Smole retreated into private life. For some years he worked as a manual worker, in protest against the regime repression of free speech, but later dedicated to writing. During this time he maintained strong contacts with the dissident poet and thinker Edvard Kocbek
, who strongly encouraged him to pursue his literary career.

Smole spent most of his life in Ljubljana, working as a free-lance writer most of his life. He died in Ljubljana in 1992 and is buried in the Žale cemetery.

Work

Smole was not a prolific writer: he did not create a large oeuvre, but his works are nevertheless regarded as the peak of modern Slovene literature. He was a crucial collaborator of the literary and cultural magazines that struggled to open a space for public debate in Communist Slovenia in the 1960s.

The central part of Smole's opus was published in the literary journal

Ples v dežju (Dance in the Rain), directed by Boštjan Hladnik
in 1961.

His main plays include Potovanje v Koromandijo (Travels to Neverland), Igre in igrice (Plays and Games), and Zlata čeveljčka (Little Golden Shoes). One of his most important plays is Krst pri Savici (adaptation of

Communist authorities. The play has also been translated into English.[2]

Smole was a sharp thinker who lucidly analyzed his surroundings. Already during his lifetime, he was acclaimed for his refined expression and frequently referred to as a master of style. His works echo the

totalitarian reality, as well as a global metaphor on the tragic essence of the human condition
.

References

  1. ^ a b Stanko Janež (1971). Živan Milisavac (ed.). Jugoslovenski književni leksikon [Yugoslav Literary Lexicon] (in Serbo-Croatian). Novi Sad (SAP Vojvodina, SR Serbia): Matica srpska. p. 495.
  2. ^ Smole, Dominik, transl. Harry Leeming, Antigone; Ljubljana: Društvo slovenskih pisateljev / Mladinska knjiga International, 1988. Vilenica, Slovene Contemporary Literature Collection.

Sources

  • Helga Glušič, Sto Slovenskih Pripovednikov (Ljubljana: Prešernova družba, 1996)
    ISBN 961-6186-21-3
  • Taras Kermauner, Perspektivovci (Ljubljana: Znanestveno in publicistično središče, 1995).
  • Miran Štuhec, Aristokracija duha in jezika (Ljubljana: Študentska založba, 2005).
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