Matej Bor

Matej Bor in the 1930s

Matej Borwas thepen nameofVladimir Pavšič(14 April 1913 – 29 September 1993), who was aSlovenepoet,translator,playwright,journalist,andPartisan.

Biography

Matej Bor was born as Vladimir Pavšič in the village ofGrgarnearGorizia,in what was then theAustrianCounty of Gorizia and Gradiscaand is today part of Slovenia. After theItalianannexation of theJulian Marchin 1920, his family moved toCelje,which was then part ofYugoslavia.After finishing his studies atCelje High School,he enrolled at theUniversity of Ljubljana,where he studied Slovene and Slavic philology.After graduating in 1937, Bor did not get a proper job due to his communist activity but worked for a short while as a journalist inMaribor.He wrote poetry and from mid-year 1940 until the German occupation in 1941, he was employed as a professor inKočevje.

When theAxis powersinvaded Yugoslaviain April 1941, he escaped fromNazi-occupied Maribor to the Italian-occupiedProvince of Ljubljana.In the summer of the same year he joined theCommunist-led partisan resistance,where he worked in the area of culture and propaganda. During thePeople's Liberation Warhe emerged as one of the major poets of theSlovene resistance.Several of his battle songs became hugely popular. One of them,Hey, Brigades,became the unofficial anthem of Slovene partisan forces duringWorld War II.It was during this period that he started to use the pseudonymMatej Bor,which he continued to use also after the war.

In 1944, he moved toBelgradewhich had just been liberated by the Yugoslav partisans. There he worked at the Slovene section ofRadio Free Yugoslavia,led byBoris Ziherl.Among his colleagues in Belgrade were the authorsIgo Gruden,Edvard KocbekandAnton Ingolič.In 1945 he moved back toLjubljana,where he dedicated himself to writing and translating. He received the highest recognition for cultural achievements in Slovenia, thePrešeren Awardin 1947 and again in 1952. In 1965 he became a member of theSlovene Academy of Sciences and Arts.In the 1960s and 1970s he was the president of the Slovenian section of theInternational P.E.N.

During the period ofYugoslavia,he often used his influence to helpdissidentsor to sponsor causes challenging official policies. In the 1960s, he publicly criticized the imprisonment of theSerbiandissident writerMihajlo Mihajlov.He was one of the founders of theenvironmentalistmovements inSloveniain the early 1970s. He also voiced his support for the heritage protection movement which fought against the demolishing of historic buildings in Ljubljana (such as theKozler's Palace). In the late 1970s and early 1980s he led the platform for the rehabilitation of the victims ofStalinistshow trialsin Slovenia (the so-calledDachau trialsof 1947). In 1984 he helped the writerIgor Torkarto publish a novel on his experiences in theGoli Otokconcentration camp.

In the 1980s Bor researched and attempted to translateVeneticinscriptionsby using Slovene and its dialects. Together withJožko ŠavliandIvan Tomažič,he advocated the theory of theVenetic origins of Slovenes,claiming that theSlovenesare the descendants of a pre-RomanSlavic-speaking people called theVeneti.None of the three men were linguists, and the theory was soon rejected by scholars, but launched a long controversy in which Bor played a prominent role.

He died inRadovljicain 1993 and was buried in Ljubljana.

Work

Bor published a number of poetry collections. His first collection, calledPreviharimo viharje,was published during theanti-fascistresistance fight in 1942 by an underground publishing house. In 1959 he published the bookŠel je popotnik skozi atomski vek(A Wanderer Went Through the Atom Age), anapocalypticpoetic reflection on the environmental disasters in theAtomic Age.The book was republished in several editions and was translated into the major European languages and contributed to Bor's popularity outside Yugoslavia.

Bor also wrote twelveplaysand a number of literary works for children and youth. He was a regular contributor to publications for children and teenagers such asCiciban,Pionir,Pionirski list,Najdihojca(a supplement of the journalDelo),Mali Rod(Klagenfurt) andThe Voice of Youth(Chicago). He also wrote the screenplay for thefilmVesna,which was released in 1954.He translated a number of works byShakespeareinto Slovene.

Bor is also remembered for discovering the "letter rules" of the Venetian Alpha bet and Venetian grammar. His claims have been rejected by scholars.

Essential bibliography

Main poetry collections

• Previharimo viharje(1942)
• Pesmi(Poems, 1944)
• Pesmi(Poems, 1946)
• Bršljan nad jezom(Ivy on the Dam, 1951)
• Sled naših senc(The Trace of our Shadows, 1958)
• Podoknice tišini(Serenades to Silence, 1983)
• Sto manj en epigram(A Hundred but One Epigram, 1985)

Youth literature

• Uganke(Riddles, 1951)
• Slike in pesmi o živalih(Images and Songs About Animals, 1956)
• Sračje sodišče ali je, kar je(The Raven Court or Whatever Is Done is Done, 1961)
• Pesmi za Manjo(Songs for Manja, 1985)
• Ropotalo in ptice(The Scarecrow and Birds, 1985)
• Palčki - pihalčki(Dwarves, 1991)

Discography

• Zajček(1968)
• Partizan(1980)
• Jutri Gremo V Napad(1988)
• Hej Brigade(2006) (published posthumly)

English translations

• A Wanderer Went Through the Atom Age,(London: Adam Books, 1959).
• A Wanderer in the Atom Age(Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, 1970).
• An Anthology of Modern Yugoslav Poetry,edited byJanko Lavrin(London: J. Calder, 1962).

See also

• Karel Destovnik
• Slovenian literature
• Venetic theory

Sources

• Marija Arh,Primernost Borovih pesmi za učence od 1. do 4. razreda OŠ: diplomsko delo(Ljubljana: M. Arh, 1993), 13-15, 48-50.
• Viktor Blažič,Svinčena leta(Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1999).
• Janko Kos,Pregled slovenskega slovstva(Ljubljana: DZS, 2002), 359.
• Igor Torkar,Umiranje na obroke,preface by Matej Bor (Ljubljana: Delo, 1984).
• Ciril Zlobec,Spomin kot zgodba: avtobiografski roman(Ljubljana: Prešernova družba, 1998).
• Document on Bor's role in the Yugoslav P.E.N.at theBlinken Open Society Archives
• Biography of Igo Gruden with reference to Bor