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Barcelona. 23 cm. 130 p. Encuadernación en tapa blanda de editorial ilustrada. Rúfus, Milan 1928-. Traducción, edición bilingüe eslovaco-español y prólogo de Alejandro Hermida de Blas. Texto en eslovaco y traducción en español. Traducción Zvony .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario. 8495976161
- GenresPoetry
130 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
14 people want to read
About the author
Milan Rúfus
68 books10 followersMilan Rúfus was a Slovak poet, essayist, children's writer and academic.
He was born in Závažná Poruba, in the Zilina region. As a student at the Faculty of Arts at Comenius University in Bratislava he studied Slovak language and literature, and history. From 1952-1989 he lectured at the university on the history of Slovak and Czech literature. From 1971-1972 he taught at a university in Naples. He retired in 1990 and lived with his family in Bratislava. At age 80 he died at University Hospital in that city.
Rúfus published his first poems in the 1940s and his first collection, Až dozrieme ("When We Grow Mature") in 1956. Another 20 poetry books followed. A children's book, Modlitbičky ("Little Prayers") has been called his most successful work. Toward the end of his life he also published Báseň a čas ("Poem and Time") and Vernosť ("Fidelity").
In a book of essays, Človek, čas a tvorba ("Human, Time and Creation"), he examined questions of poetry and its relation to truth, homeland and time.
He was born in Závažná Poruba, in the Zilina region. As a student at the Faculty of Arts at Comenius University in Bratislava he studied Slovak language and literature, and history. From 1952-1989 he lectured at the university on the history of Slovak and Czech literature. From 1971-1972 he taught at a university in Naples. He retired in 1990 and lived with his family in Bratislava. At age 80 he died at University Hospital in that city.
Rúfus published his first poems in the 1940s and his first collection, Až dozrieme ("When We Grow Mature") in 1956. Another 20 poetry books followed. A children's book, Modlitbičky ("Little Prayers") has been called his most successful work. Toward the end of his life he also published Báseň a čas ("Poem and Time") and Vernosť ("Fidelity").
In a book of essays, Človek, čas a tvorba ("Human, Time and Creation"), he examined questions of poetry and its relation to truth, homeland and time.
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September 18, 2021
for me, these poems simply do not make the "most important books in Slovak literature of 2nd half of the 20th century" list - even though the collection Zvony is firmly believed to be a part of that canon in particular
the main issue here is not the way these poems are written - Rúfus is an artisan, he knows how to put words together so that the text can accelerate or pause when it needs to, so the overall flow is great (while respecting and even revitalizing the sylabotonic verse); no, the problem really is not here - the whole collection reads almost effortlessly, from a stylistic point of view
Rúfus is traditionally labeled as a traditionalist, but my issue with this book is that this just feels like a huge understatement - the poems bring paternalistic and patriarchal thoughts through an insufferable and infuriating moralistic tone; the repertoire of topics and motifs/symbols is too traditional as well - soil, bread, labor, suffering, death, all of those tied together to present the absolutely least enjoyable side of Christianity, consisting of constant misery, constant reminders of the nearing death and constant looking over the shoulder to where the "better times" were (even going back to the renaissance ideal as the only one worthy of portraying beauty in the poem Michelangelo)
all these huge topics, all these important mysteries - yet Rúfus's collection Zvony just feels empty, if you discount all the unsolicited advice from a subject clearly falling into the "old wise (white) man" category (also, the cover of the first edition by Milan Laluha - the white church with two adjacent buildings, evoking a phallic symbol - feels weirdly inappropriate and absolutely appropriate at the same time)
the main issue here is not the way these poems are written - Rúfus is an artisan, he knows how to put words together so that the text can accelerate or pause when it needs to, so the overall flow is great (while respecting and even revitalizing the sylabotonic verse); no, the problem really is not here - the whole collection reads almost effortlessly, from a stylistic point of view
Rúfus is traditionally labeled as a traditionalist, but my issue with this book is that this just feels like a huge understatement - the poems bring paternalistic and patriarchal thoughts through an insufferable and infuriating moralistic tone; the repertoire of topics and motifs/symbols is too traditional as well - soil, bread, labor, suffering, death, all of those tied together to present the absolutely least enjoyable side of Christianity, consisting of constant misery, constant reminders of the nearing death and constant looking over the shoulder to where the "better times" were (even going back to the renaissance ideal as the only one worthy of portraying beauty in the poem Michelangelo)
all these huge topics, all these important mysteries - yet Rúfus's collection Zvony just feels empty, if you discount all the unsolicited advice from a subject clearly falling into the "old wise (white) man" category (also, the cover of the first edition by Milan Laluha - the white church with two adjacent buildings, evoking a phallic symbol - feels weirdly inappropriate and absolutely appropriate at the same time)
Displaying 1 of 1 review