Aleš Debeljak

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Aleš Debeljak (born 1961), is a Slovenian poet, editor, and professor of cultural studies at the University of Ljubljana. Debeljak holds a PhD in Social Thought from Syracuse University, New York. Besides cultural criticism and poetry, Debeljak also was a significant columnist in his country's largest newspaper.

His poetry is noted for its melancholy as well as the way in which things like family and God are important again. An opponent to the everything-goes schools of modern thought, such as Post-Modernism, Debeljak's work is informed by an "Enlightenment" ideal of right and wrong, good and bad. According to his translator, Debeljak goes a long time without writing poetry and then turns out an excellent book in just a few months.

Contents 1 Comments on his work 2 Honors 3 Partial list of works in English 4 Complete Works 4.1 Poetry (Slovenian) 4.2 Poetry (Internatonal) 4.3 Cultural criticism (Slovenian) 4.4 Cultural criticism (International) 4.5 Essays in Anthologies (International) 4.6 Poems in Anthologies (International) 4.7 Books translated into Slovenian 4.8 Editor for 5 Sources 6 Links

[edit] Comments on his work

Translator Christopher Merrill wrote, "Debeljak's poems are marked by his razor-sharp intelligence, haunting juxtapositions, and imagery which is at once slightly surreal and rooted in Slovenias life and folklore." Poet Charles Simic, "he incorporates seemingly incongruous verbal elements." Himself, "Art and Literature has the right ... to blend sacred and secular" & "Life, the world, does not begin with us and will very likely not end with us" & "[art's main point is] communion between reader and text"

[edit] Honors

• Fellow, Collegium Budapest-Institute for Advanced Study
• Senior Fulbright Fellow, University of California, Berkeley
• Slovenian National Book Award (Preseren Prize)
• Hayden Carruth Poetry Prize
• Miriam Lindberg Israel Poetry for Peace Prize

• Visiting scholar at the Center for International and Comparative Studies at Northwestern University for the 2006-2007 year.

[edit] Partial list of works in English

• Anxious Moments (Prose poetry)
• The City and the Child (Poetry)
• Reluctant Modernity: The Institution of Art ands its Historical Forms (Criticism)
• Twilight of the Idols: Recollections of a Lost Yugoslavia (Non-fiction)
• The Hidden Handshake: National Identity and Europe in the Post-Communist World (Cultural criticism)

[edit] Complete Works

[edit] Poetry (Slovenian)

• 1982: Zamenjave, zamenjave (Exchanges, Exchanges), PAM, Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana
• 1985: Imena smrti (Names of Death), Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• 1987: Slovar tišine (Dictionary of Silence), Aleph Press, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• 1990: Minute strahu (Anxious Moments), Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana, Slovenia: 1990
• 1996: Mesto in otrok (The City and the Child), Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana, Slovenia: 1996
• 2000: Nedokončane hvalnice (Unending Praise), Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana: 2000
• 2004: Pod gladino (Under the Waterline), Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana

[edit] Poetry (Internatonal)

• 1989: Rječnik tišine (Dictionary of Silence), Translated by Branko Čegec, Quorum Press, Zagreb, Croatia (reprint Quorum, Zagreb. 2002)
• 1989: The Chronicle of Melancholy, Translated by Michael Biggins, Poetry Miscellany, Chattanooga, TN, USA
• 1992: Slownik Ciszy (selected poems), Translated by Katarina Šalamun-Biedrzycka, Wizdavatelstvo Cassiopeia, Krakow, Poland
• 1993: Momenti d'Angoscia, (Anxious Moments) Translated by Tea Stoka, Flavio Pagano Editore, Napoli, Italy
• 1994: Anxious Moments, Translated by Christopher Merrill and the author, White Pine Press, Fredonia, NY, USA
• 1996: A csend szotara (selected poems), Translated by Orsollya Gallos & Gabor Csordas, Jelenkor Kiado; Pecs-Budapest, Hungary
• 1996: Katalog prachu (selected poems), Translated by František Benhart, Votobia, Olomouc, Czech Republic
• 1997: Shisyuu fuan na jikoku (Anxious Moments), Translated by Takeshi Ishihara, Kashinsya, Tokyo, Japan
• 1998: Grad i djete (The City and the Child), Translated by Branko Čegec, Meandar: Zagreb, Croatia
• 1999: Mesto a dite (The City and the Child), Translated by Frantisek Benhart, Mlada Fronta Press, Prague, Czech Republic
• 1999: The Dictionary of Silence, Translated by Sonja Kravanja, Lumen Press, Santa Fe, NM
• 1999: The City and the Child, Translated by Christopher Merrill and the author, White Pine Press, Buffalo, New York, USA
• 2000: Miasto i dziecko (The City and the Child), Translated by Katarina Šalamun-Biedrzycka, Wydawnictwo Zielona Sowa, Krakow, Poland
• 2001: Minutes de la peur, (Anxious Moments), Translated by Andreé Lück-Gaye, Domens, Pézenas, France
• 2001: Skice za povratak: izabrane pesme (Sketches for a Return: Selected Poems). Edited and co-translated by Bojana Stojanović-Pantović, Zadužbina Petar Kočić, Banja Luka-Beograd
• 2001: Netobula žoždio aistra (Imperfect Passion of the Word: Selected Poems), Translated by Eugenius Ališanka, Lietuvos Raštoju Sajungos Leidykla, Vilnius, Lithuania
• 2002: Kaupunki ja lapsi (The City and the Child), Translated by Kari Klemela, Nihil Interit, Helsinki, Finland
• 2004: Izabrani Pesni (Selected Poems), Translated by Igor Isakovski, Yelizabeta Bakovska, Ana Dimiskovska Trajanovska; Blesok, Skopje, Macedonia
• 2006: Pod gladinom (Under the Waterline), Translated by Edo Fičor, HDP, Zagreb, Croatia

[edit] Cultural criticism (Slovenian)

• 1988: Melanholične figure: eseji o književnosti in idejah (Melancholy Figures: Essays on Books and Ideas), KRT Press, Ljubljana
• 1989: Postmoderna sfinga (The Postmodern Sphinx), Wieser, Ljubljana
• 1991: Temno nebo Amerike (The Dark Skies of America), Obzorja, Maribor (reprint Wieser Verlag, Ljubljana-Klagenfurt 1994)
• 1992: Pisma iz tujine (Letters from Abroad), Mihelac Press, Ljubljana
• 1994: Zaton idolov (Twilight of the Idols), Wieser, Ljubljana-Klagenfurt
• 1995: Oblike religiozne imaginacije (Forms of Religious Imagination), ZPS Press, Ljubljana
• 1998: Individualizem in literarne metafore naroda, (Individualism and Literary Metaphors of the Nation), Založba Obzorja, Maribor
• 1998: Atlantski most: Eseji o ameriški književnosti (The Atlantic Bridge: Essays on American Literature), Aleph Press, Ljubljana
• 1999: Na ruševinah modernosti: Institucija umetnosti in njene zgodovinske oblike (On the Ruins of Modernity: The Institution of Art and its Historical Forms) ZPS, Ljubljana
• 2002: Lanski sneg: eseji o kulturi in tranziciji (Last Year's Snow: Essays on Culture and Transition), Aristej, Maribor
• 2004: Evropa brez Evropejcev (Europe without Europeans), Založba Sophia, Ljubljana
• 2005: Na dnu predala: Drobni spisi. (The Bottom of the Drawer). V.B.Z., Ljubljana

[edit] Cultural criticism (International)

• 1994: Untergang der Idole (Twilight of the Idols), Translated by Franci Zwiter, jr., Wieser, Klagenfurt, Austria
• 1994: Twilight of the Idols: Recollections of a Lost Yugoslavia, Translated by Michael Biggins, White Pine Press, Fredonia, NY
• 1995: Sumrak idola (Twilight of the Idols), Translated by Branko Čegec, Meandar Press, Zagreb, Croatia (reprint, 2002)
• 1996: Soumrak idolu (Twilight of the Idols), Translated by František Benhart, Votobia Press, Olomouc, Czech Republic
• 1998: Otthon Es Kulfold (selected cultural essays), Translated by Barbaszy Eszter et al., Jelenkor Kiado & JAK, Pecs, Hungary
• 1998: Reluctant Modernity: The Institution of Art and its Historical Forms, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham & New York & London
• 1998: Kozmopoliticka metafora: Individualismus a narodna tradicia, (Individualism and Literary Metaphors of the Nation), Translated by Karol Chmel, Kalligram, Bratislava
• 1999: Sveraci kazajka anonymity (Individualism and Literary Metaphors of the Nation), Translated by František Benhart and Jana Špirudova), Volvox Globator, Prague
• 1999: Temne nebo Ameriky (The Dark Skies of America), Translated by Karol Chmel, F.R&G-Fragment Press, Bratislava, Slovakia
• 1999: El crepusculo de los idolos: Muerte del siglo veinte en los Balcanes, Translated by Barbara Pregelj & Antonio Preciado, Tercera Prensa-Hirugarren Prentsa, Donostia, Spain
• 2000: Temne nebe Ameriky (The Dark Skies of America), Translated by Martina & Pavel Šaradin, Host, Brno, Czech Republic
• 2003: În căutarea nefericirii (The Pursuit of Unhappiness: Selected Essays), translated by Ioana Alupoaie, Polirom, Idee Contemporane Serioes, Iaşi-Bucharest, Romania
• 2003: Suvremeni fundamentalizam i sveti rat (Contemporary Fundamentalism and Holly War), translated by Jagna Pogačnik and Boris Beck, Jesenski-Truk, Zagreb, Croatia
• 2004: Izabrani Esei (Selected Essays), translated by Igor Isakovski, Yelizabeta Bakovska, Ana Dimiskovska Trajanovska, Blesok, Skopje, Macedonia
• 2004: Auf der Suche nach dem verlorenen Paradies (In Search of a Lost Paradise), Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt-Wien, Austria
• 2004: The Hidden Handshake: National Identity and Europe in Postcommunist World, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham-New York-London
• 2006: Európa európaiak nélkül. (Europe without Europeans) Napkút Kidaó. Budapest

[edit] Essays in Anthologies (International)

• 1997: “Vargjet qe lexohen ne kembe, siper germadhave te evropes”, in: Krimi dhe indiferenca (Blerim Shala, ed.), Zeri, Pristina, Kosovo
• 1999: “Slovenia: A Brief Literary History”, in: Andrew Zawacki (ed.): Afterwards: Slovenian Writing 1945-1995, White Pine Press, Buffalo, New York
• 2000: “The Lonesome Heart and the Failed Community”, v: The Slovenian Essay of the Nineties, (Matevž Kos, ed.), Litterae Slovenicae-Slovenian Writers Association, Ljubljana
• 2002: “Laudatio”, in: Worte. Ränder. Übergänge. Zu Gustav Januš (Fabjan Hafner, ed). Ritter Literatur. Klagenfurt - Wien
• 2003: “Auf der suche nach einem Archetyp: Meine Heimatstadt im Übergang”. in: Dževad Karahasan & Markus Jaroschka (eds.), Poetik der Grenze: Über die Grenzen sprechen – Literarische Brücken für Europa, Steierische Verlagsgesellschaft, Graz
• 2003: “The Future Relation Among Regional, National and European Identities”, in: Europe's Torn Identity, AEGEE, Ljubljana
• 2003: “Konzentrische Kreise der Identität”. in: Europa Schreibt – Was ist das Europaische an den Literaturen Europas? (Ursulla Keller & Ilma Rakusa, eds.), Körber Stiftung, Hamburg
• 2004: “My Hometown In Transition”. in: In Our Own Words, Marlow Peerse Weaver (ed.), MW Enterprises, Cary, New Carolina
• 2004: “Concentric Circles of Identity”. in: Keller, Ursula, Rakusa, Ilma (eds.) Writing Europe: What is European about the Literatures of Europe?, Central European University Press, Budapest-New York
• 2004: “Dreaming of Friends, Living with Foes”. in: Snel, Guido (ed.), Alter Ego: Twenty Confronting Views on the European Experince, Salomé-Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam
• 2004: “Cerchi concentrici d’identita”. in: TransEuropaExpress: Scrittori della nuova Europa, ur. Fortunato, Mario & Maria Ida Gaeta (eds.); Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, Rome
• 2005: “Ist Terror der letzte Ausweg für die Vertrieben und Untredrücken?”. in: Der Vielfalt verpflichtet; Europa im Gespräch, Lojze Wieser in Bernhard Rinner (eds.), Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt
• 2006: “Evropa senza europei / Evropa brez Evropejcev” in: Fare gli europei - Ustvariti Evropejce. Miran Košuta (ed.) Istituto/Inštitut Antonio Gramsci, Trieste – Trst.

[edit] Poems in Anthologies (International)

• 1988: Il Grande Blu il Grande Nero: sedici qiovani poeti del Mediteraneo (Silvano Ceccarim, Nicola Muschiatello, Roberto Rovensi, eds.), Transeuropa, Bologna, Italy
• 1990: Strast i Mir (Passion and Peace): (Jani Virk & Josip Radlovic, ed.), Književna zajednica: Novi Sad, Serbia, Yugoslavia
• 1990: Child of Europe: A New Anthology of East European Poetry (Michael March, ed.), Penguin: New York & Harmondsworth
• 1991: Slovenska poezija (ed. Ciril Zlobec), GZH Press, Zagreb, Croatia
• 1992: Les Soleils d’Illyrie: Poesie Serbe, Croate, Bosniaque Slovene, Macedonienne d’aujourd’hui (Vladimir Claude Fischera, ed.), BF Editions, Strasbourg, France
• 1992: Writers in Exile, North Atlantic Review, Stony Brook, NY
• 1992: This Same Sky: Poems from Around the World, (Naomi Shihab Nye, ed.), McMillan Publishing Company: New York
• 1993: Shifting Borders: East European Poetry in the Eighties, (Walter Cummings, ed.), Farleigh Dickinson University Press
• 1993: Double Vision: Four Slovenian Poets (ed. Richard Jackson), Aleph Press & The Poetry Miscellany Books, Chattanooga, TN
• 1994: Sedm slovinskych basniku (Seven Slovenian Poets), (Frantisek Benhart, ed.) Trost Press, Prague
• 1994: Poesie Contemporaine Slovene, Editions Autres Temps, Marseille, France
• 1995: Das Buch der Rander-Lyrik, (Karl-Markus Gauss & Ludwig Hartinger, eds.), Wieser, Salzburg-Klagenfurt
• 1995: Srebro i mech, (Katarina Šalamun-Biedrzycka, ed.), Fundacja Pogranicze, Sejny
• 1995: Lyrik, (Wallman, Herman & Schulte. Susanne, eds.), Lyriktreffen Munster, Munster
• 1995: Sedam slovenskih pjesnika (Josip Osti, ed.), Egzil-abc, Ljubljana-Sarajevo
• 1995: The Best of Verse(Zawacki, A. & Henry, B., eds.) Verse Press, Williamsburg, VA
• 1998: Nuova poesia Slovena (Michele Obit, ed.), ZTT, Trieste, Italy
• 1998: Im Schatten der Worte (Hartinger, L., ed.), Edition Tanhäuser, Ottensheim/ Donau
• 1998: Misto v prostoru: antologie nove slovinske poezije (A place in a Space: Anthology of New Slovenian Poetry) (František Benhart, ed.), Host-Weles, Prague, Czech Republic
• 1999: Poezijo pavasaris (Spring of Poetry), (Eugenius Ališanka, ed.), Vaga, Vilnius
• 1999: Ohne grenzen/ Senza confini/Brez meja, (Lojze Wieser, ed.) Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt
• 2000: Afterwards: Slovenian Writing 1945-1995 (Andrew Zawacki, ed.), White Pine Press, Buffalo, New York
• 2000: The Best of the Prose Poem (Peter Johnson, ed.), White Pine Press, Buffalo, NY & Providence College, Providence, RI
• 2001: Terra, mar e lume (Ursula Heinze de Lorenzo, ed.), Xunta de Galicia, Pontevedra (Galicia, Spain)
• 2002: Moderna slovenska lirika (Modern Slovenian Poetry) (Radoslav Dabo & Janko Kos, eds.), Konzor Press, Zagreb
• 2003: Collection of Linked Quatrains (Kijima Haijime, Ishihara Takeshi, Niinobeken, eds.), Doyo Bijutshusha Shuppan Hanbai, Tokyo
• 2005: Neue Blätter aus der Slowenische Lyrik, Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt - Wien
• 2006: U jantaru vremena: antologija slovenske poezije (Anthology of Slovenian poetry) (Josip Osti ed.) Turga, Sarajevo
• 2006: Poesía Eslovena Contemporánea: Antología. Gog y Magog, Buenos Aires.

[edit] Books translated into Slovenian

• 1988: Peter Berger & Thomas Luckmann: The Social Construction of Reality, (New York: 1965), Cankarjeva založba, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• 1995: Selected Poems of John Ashbery (edited, translated and introduced), Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana: Slovenia

[edit] Editor for

• 1988: Ameriška metafikcija (American Metafiction: Barth, Barthelme, Coover, Pynchon); Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• 1993: Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian Poetry in: Shifting Borders: East European Poetries in the Eighties, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press & Associated Universites Press, New York & London
• 1994: Prisoners of Freedom: Contemporary Slovenian Poetry. Pedernal, Santa Fe, NM
• 1995: Selected Poems of Edvard Kocbek. Litterae Slovenicae, DSP Press, Ljubljana
• 1997: The Imagination of Terra Incognita: Slovenian Writing 1945-1995, White Pine Press, Fredonia, New York
• 2003: The Studies in the Social History of Destruction: The Case of Yugoslavia (special issue, guest-edited with Srdja Pavlović), International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, Vol. 17, No. 1, Fall 2003
• 2004: Ex-Yugoslav Poets and the War (special issue, guest-edited with Brane Mozetič), Ariel; Tidskrift för litteratur (Sweden), No. 4-5, Vol. 86

[edit] Sources

• The City and the Child--Ales Debeljak
• Anxious Moments--Ales Debeljak
• Lecture Ales Debeljak Oct 29 2004 Brigham Young University English Department Reading Series Harold B. Lee Library

[edit] Links

Biography and bibliography