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Janez Menart | |
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| Born | (1929-09-29)September 29, 1929 |
| Died | January 22, 2004(2004-01-22) (aged 74) |
| Occupation | poet,translator |
| Period | first post-war generation |
| Genre | lyrical, narrative, and satirical poetry |
| Literary movement | Intimism |
| Notable works | Poems of the Four, First Autumn, Newspaper Verse, White Fairytale, Traffic Lights of the Youth, Under the Plague Spot, Medieval Ballads, translations of classical French and English poetry and plays |
| Notable awards | Award of the City of Ljubljana 1965Translation ofShakespeare's sonnets Sovre Award 1975Reworkings of poems byRobert Burns andLord Byron Župančič Award 1978collection of poems Under the Plague Spot Prešeren Award 1979 (declined)collections and translations of poetry Sovre Award 1988Collected works ofFrançois Villon |
| Spouse | Tonka Menart |
| Children | one daughter: Barbara Menart Senica |
Janez Menart (pronunciationⓘ) (29 September 1929 – 22 January 2004) was aSlovene poet, best known for hisIntimist poetry. He translated a number of classicFrench andEnglish poetry anddrama works intoSlovene, includingShakespeare's sonnets.
Menart was born inMaribor. His mother was atheatre actress. She soon fell ill, so the family moved back toLjubljana. His father worked as anemergency medical technician and committed suicide when Janez was seven years old. His mother died eight years later.
Due to poor social circumstances Janez and his older sister lived almost from the beginning of schooling in theboarding schools. Janez was able to enter grammar school only because he won one of the fourscholarships offered byDrava Banovina in 1940. Having finished it he attended the Faculty of Philosophy at theUniversity of Ljubljana where he graduated in Slovene philology and incomparative literature studies.
After compulsory military service he was at first apublisher's reader, then astage director and finally a director of puppet section atTriglav film. In that time he also married and got a daughter. Since 1963, when he left film, he earned his money by writing and translation.
Then he employed himself as the editor of drama editorial board atRTV Ljubljana. Due to political circumstances he was later degraded to a stage director and in the final three years he worked as a translator for current needs. In 1979 he decided to leave his job and employ himself as a programme leader of thebook sales clubSvet knjige atMladinska knjiga. He stayed there till his retirement in 1990.
He died in Ljubljana due to ahospital infection.
Janez Menart was one of the most popular Slovene poets in the second half of the 20th century. Over four hundred of his individuals poems have been translated to about 25 foreign languages and over half of these translations were published in independent editions. Over one hundred of his poems andchanson lyrics have been set to music, some of them have also been recorded on cassettes and discs.
Menart began seriously writing songs when he was 15 and had first of them published in the last two years of attending grammar school. He gradually published them in a continuously larger number of literary journals and by radio. His career of a prominent literate began in 1953 when he published the collectionPoems of the Four (Pesmi štirih) in collaboration withKajetan Kovič,Tone Pavček andCiril Zlobec. His poetry is traditionally confessional, the narration realistic and satirical while the form rests on traditional meter with romantic images and everyday reality. Also well known are hisepigrams.
Menart complemented original poetry by translating foreign language literature. Slovenes have to thank him for, among others, the excellent translations ofShakespeare's Sonnets,Byron's,Burns's andPrévert's poetry andVillon's Collected Works. He also translatedEnglish Renaissance plays such asVolpone byJonson andDoctor Faustus byChristopher Marlowe.
Although mainly known as a poet and translator, Menart also wrote scripts forpuppet anddocumentary films andtelevision plays. He was also the first in Slovenia to publish a CDaudiobook, with his poems largely interpreted by him himself.
In 1975, his poem "Homeland" (Slovene:Domovina), translated by the Croatian poetZvonimir Golob, was used as lyrics for the song "Domovina" sung by the Croatian rock and folk musicianDrago Mlinarec.
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