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The Dictionary of Silence: Poems by Ales Debeljak
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Each of Ales Debeljak's hallucinatory poems is lit by wonder, as the poetic voice strives for a pure state of incandescence. Pushed beyond language into the body's shadow zone, the human voice threatens to disintegrate into inarticulate cries piercing screams, soft chimes, vocal tremors, and the high C of Ella Fitzgerald. Yet the poet who is "running out of words" does not succumb to silence; instead, he begins to enter new names in its dictionary. Deeply grounded in an awareness of social and political concerns, Debeljak's poems wander restlessly "on the border between east and west," in a surreal landscape of refugee camps, barren fields, and deserted city streets. His work more ontology than confession exists where Rilke's gleaming visions meet the dark edge of the millennium. In Sonja Kravanja's splendid translations, which deftly capture the music and melancholy that infuse Debeljak's work, we have a significant document on the effects of exile, wandering, and survival on language. Kathy Crown
About the Author
Born in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1961, the poet, editor, translator, and professor Ales Debeljak graduated in comparative literature from the University of Ljubljana and later received his Ph.D. in Social Thought at Syracuse University, New York. He was a Senior Fulbright fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and a fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study in Budapest.
A leading Central European poet, Debeljak has published five books of poems and eight books of essays in his native Slovenian. His books in English translation include Anxious Moments as well as Dictionary of Silence and The City and the Child, published in 1999 by Lumen Books, Santa Fe, and White Pine Press, Buffalo, respectively.
Debeljaks volume of personal and analytical meditation, Twilight of the Idols: Recollections of a Lost Yugoslavia, has been translated into twelve languages. Other of his works have appeared in Japanese, German, Croatian, Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and Italian translations. He won the Slovenian National Book Award and the Miriam Lindberg Israel Poetry for Peace Prize.
Debeljak edited Prisone
Each of Ales Debeljak's hallucinatory poems is lit by wonder, as the poetic voice strives for a pure state of incandescence. Pushed beyond language into the body's shadow zone, the human voice threatens to disintegrate into inarticulate cries piercing screams, soft chimes, vocal tremors, and the high C of Ella Fitzgerald. Yet the poet who is "running out of words" does not succumb to silence; instead, he begins to enter new names in its dictionary. Deeply grounded in an awareness of social and political concerns, Debeljak's poems wander restlessly "on the border between east and west," in a surreal landscape of refugee camps, barren fields, and deserted city streets. His work more ontology than confession exists where Rilke's gleaming visions meet the dark edge of the millennium. In Sonja Kravanja's splendid translations, which deftly capture the music and melancholy that infuse Debeljak's work, we have a significant document on the effects of exile, wandering, and survival on language. Kathy Crown
About the Author
Born in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1961, the poet, editor, translator, and professor Ales Debeljak graduated in comparative literature from the University of Ljubljana and later received his Ph.D. in Social Thought at Syracuse University, New York. He was a Senior Fulbright fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and a fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study in Budapest.
A leading Central European poet, Debeljak has published five books of poems and eight books of essays in his native Slovenian. His books in English translation include Anxious Moments as well as Dictionary of Silence and The City and the Child, published in 1999 by Lumen Books, Santa Fe, and White Pine Press, Buffalo, respectively.
Debeljaks volume of personal and analytical meditation, Twilight of the Idols: Recollections of a Lost Yugoslavia, has been translated into twelve languages. Other of his works have appeared in Japanese, German, Croatian, Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and Italian translations. He won the Slovenian National Book Award and the Miriam Lindberg Israel Poetry for Peace Prize.
Debeljak edited Prisone
- GenresPoetry
80 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
34 people want to read
About the author
Aleš Debeljak
67 books11 followersAleš Debeljak was a Slovenian cultural critic, poet, and essayist.
He graduated from comparative literature at the University of Ljubljana in 1985.
Aleš continued his studies in the United States, obtaining a PhD in sociology of culture at Syracuse University in 1989. He was later a Senior Fulbright fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. He also worked at the Institute for Advanced Studies Collegium Budapest, the Civitella Ranieri Center and the Bogliasco Liguria Study Center for the Arts and Humanitites.
During the Slovenian Spring (1988–1992), Debeljak actively participated in the democratization process in Slovenia. He was a professor of cultural studies at the Faculty for Social Studies of the University of Ljubljana.
He was married to the American columnist and translator Erica Johnson Debeljak. They had three children and lived in Ljubljana.
He graduated from comparative literature at the University of Ljubljana in 1985.
Aleš continued his studies in the United States, obtaining a PhD in sociology of culture at Syracuse University in 1989. He was later a Senior Fulbright fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. He also worked at the Institute for Advanced Studies Collegium Budapest, the Civitella Ranieri Center and the Bogliasco Liguria Study Center for the Arts and Humanitites.
During the Slovenian Spring (1988–1992), Debeljak actively participated in the democratization process in Slovenia. He was a professor of cultural studies at the Faculty for Social Studies of the University of Ljubljana.
He was married to the American columnist and translator Erica Johnson Debeljak. They had three children and lived in Ljubljana.
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July 29, 2022favorites: Biography of Dreamtime 6, Eye to Eye 4, Catalogue of Dust 6
"This is the place. Small animals jump frightened into the murky
forest, even farther - into an almost erased chronicle from
long-gone times. Many years later my son will discover it,
bewildered." Forms of Love 1
"Hear your solitary whistle.
That lasts. That stretches far. Until it hardens into an elegy.
Nothing you can do. That's the way it has to happen. Then despair,
gently rushing inside us. That's just it. You may drink another
six bottles, but your physique will not come to life in the mirror
of a stranger's memory. Until the end you'll be the only one. Alone." Biography of Dreamtime 3
"This is the place. Small animals jump frightened into the murky
forest, even farther - into an almost erased chronicle from
long-gone times. Many years later my son will discover it,
bewildered." Forms of Love 1
"Hear your solitary whistle.
That lasts. That stretches far. Until it hardens into an elegy.
Nothing you can do. That's the way it has to happen. Then despair,
gently rushing inside us. That's just it. You may drink another
six bottles, but your physique will not come to life in the mirror
of a stranger's memory. Until the end you'll be the only one. Alone." Biography of Dreamtime 3
Displaying 1 of 1 review