Ivan Minatti (22 March 1924 – 9 June 2012) was a Slovene

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

, and

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

. He started writing poetry before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

but principally belongs to the first postwar generation of Slovene poets. He is one of the best representatives of Slovene Intimism.

Life

Minatti was born in 1924 in

Slovenske Konjice Slovenske Konjice (; , in older sources also ''Gannobitz'') is a town in northeastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Slovenske Konjice. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Styria, Styria. History and town sights ...

in northeastern

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. His family moved first to

Slovenj Gradec Slovenj Gradec (; '', ''after about 1900 ''Windischgraz'') is a town in northern Slovenia. It is the centre of the Urban Municipality of Slovenj Gradec. It is part of the historical Styria region, and since 2005 it has belonged to the NUTS-3 C ...

and then to

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

while he was still a child. He attended Gymnasium in Ljubljana, finished it in 1943, and then enrolled in medical studies, but postponed his education to join the

Partisans Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Itali ...

in 1944. After the war, he studied

Slavic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or ...

at the

Faculty of Arts A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

of the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

and graduated in 1952. He worked as an editor at Mladinska Knjiga publishers from 1947 until his retirement in 1984. He became a regular member of the

Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( (SAZU)) is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members of the academy. Cultural significance Establis ...

in 1991. He died at the age of 88 and was buried at

Žale Žale Central Cemetery (), often simply Žale, is the largest and the central cemetery in Ljubljana and Slovenia. It is located in the Bežigrad District and operated by the Žale Public Company. History The cemetery was built in 1906 behin ...

in Ljubljana.

Work

Minatti's poems, influenced by the horrors of the war, are lyrical and deal with modern-age resignation and melancholy. According to the poet Boris A. Novak, his work signified a radical break with

collectivist In sociology, a social organization is a pattern of relationships between and among individuals and groups. Characteristics of social organization can include qualities such as sexual composition, spatiotemporal cohesion, leadership, struct ...

postwar poetry and the start of personal poetry, making Minatti one of the breakthrough Slovene poets of the 20th century. The poet and translator

Veno Taufer Venčeslav "Veno" Taufer (19 February 1933 – 20 May 2023) was a Slovenian poet, essayist, translator and playwright. Under the Communist regime, he was a driving force behind alternative cultural and intellectual projects in Socialist Sloveni ...

characterised him as a rock-steady and, at the same time, of a soft heart, and ascribed his success to his expression of human as well as social distress in postwar Communist Slovenia. Minatti is known for his references to nature. According to the poet

Ciril Zlobec Ciril Zlobec (4 July 1925 – 24 August 2018) was a Slovene poet, writer, translator, journalist and former politician. He is best remembered for his poems, publishing several volumes of poetry in his lifetime. In 1990 he became a member of th ...

, he used nature as a source of deep

symbol A symbol is a mark, Sign (semiotics), sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, physical object, object, or wikt:relationship, relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by cr ...

s and

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...

s for man and his life.

Awards

Minatti won the Prešeren Fund Award in 1964 for his poetry collection ''You Have to Love Somebody'' (). In 1972, he won the Sovre Award, bestowed for the best translations into Slovene, for his translations of lyrical poems by the Macedonian poet

Kočo Racin Kosta Apostolov Solev ( cyrl, Коста Апостолов Солев; 22 December 1908 – 13 June 1943), primarily known by his pen name Kočo Racin (Кочо Рацин), was a Macedonians (ethnic group), Macedonian poet, writer and commun ...

and the Bosnian poet

Izet Sarajlić Izet Sarajlić (16 March 1930 in Doboj – 2 May 2002 in Sarajevo) was a Bosnian historian of philosophy, essayist, translator and poet. Sarajlić was Bosnia and Herzegovina's best-known poet after World War II, and the former Yugoslavia's most wi ...

. In 1985, he won the

Prešeren Award The Prešeren Award (), also called the Grand Prešeren Award (), is the highest decoration in the field of artistic and in the past also scientific creation in Slovenia. It is awarded each year by the Prešeren Fund () to two eminent Slovene art ...

for his poetry collection ''I Listen to the Silence Inside Me'' ().

Poetry collections

* ''Off-Trail'' (, 1947) * ''And the Spring Will Come'' (, 1955) * ''You Have to Love Somebody'' (, 1963) * ''The Wind Sings'' (, 1963) * ''The Pain of the Unexperienced'' (, 1964) * ''Poems'' (, 1971) * ''The Face'' (, 1972) * ''When I Am Silent and Good'' (, 1973) * ''The Poems'' (, 1977) - with

Janez Menart Janez Menart () (29 September 1929 – 22 January 2004) was a Slovene poet, best known for his Intimist poetry. He translated a number of classic French and English poetry and drama works into Slovene, including Shakespear ...

and

Lojze Krakar Lojze Krakar (21 February 1926 – 24 December 1995) was a Slovene poet, translator, editor, literary historian, and essayist. He also wrote poetry for children. Krakar was born in Semič in White Carniola in 1926. He studied Slavic languages a ...

* ''I Eavesdrop on the Silence Within Me'' (, 1984) * ''Behind the Closed Eyelids: Chosen Poems'' (, 1999) * ''Minatti – Chosen Lyrical Poetry'' (, 2004)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minatti, Ivan 1924 births 2012 deaths Slovenian male poets Slovenian editors Slovenian translators Yugoslav poets Yugoslav editors Yugoslav translators Prešeren Award laureates Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts University of Ljubljana alumni 20th-century Slovenian poets People from the Municipality of Slovenske Konjice Yugoslav Partisans members