From
Encyclopedia of Slovenia about the work of Jože Snoj
As
a poet Snoj came out of the so-called intimism (The Mill of Hundred Eyes) and drew from the tradition of Slovene
Moderna and expressionism. However, the collection of poems The Cavalry of Slovene Hoplites and
all his poetry in the second half of sixties and seventies shows a typical
transition to modernism. The most significant themes of his poetry are
erotic, existential distress and metaphysical protest and rebellion against
conventions. Snoj supplements modern principles of poetry writing (the
absence of lyrical subject, leaving out the punctuation marks, free verse,
varying types of strophe) with mythical allusions. At the beginning of the seventies his
poetical world became darker, more ballad-like (Ballads for Voice and Rattles) by attachment to the tradition of
Slovene national poetry, while his collection of poems Lilac Aquarelles demonstrates the hermetic summit of his
modernistic phase. In the eighties and nineties, we can perceive a shift from
the strict modernistic poesy. The characteristics of this period are always
stronger wish or tendency towards the resacralisation of poesy and the
mystical worshiping of the poetical expression and also the contiguous
addressing of transcendence (Elegies
for Father and Fatherland, Home-Sickness, Spiritual Poems). This might be
the most outstanding characteristic of his lyrics in comparison to the main
Slovene modernistic poets (Dane Zajc, Gregor Strnisa, Veno Taufer, and Niko
Grafenauer). As
narrator, he first published modernistic short stories (Lady with Menthol) with actual social critical and intimate
existential themes. In the novels Corridor
and The Negative of Gojko Mrc
he carried on the tradition of existentialist literature in addressing the
ethical problems of the intellectual and his situation in the contemporary
Slovene society; as for narrative technique and the language style he took
the model of the modern novel. At the end of the seventies, in the novel Joseph or the early Revelation of the
heart Cancer, the machistic erotica prevails; at the same time biblical
motives are introduced to show and emphasize the intimate being and morally
ethical as well as actual social critical themes. In the novels of eighties,
he dealt with traumatic contradictions of the last Slovene history and so he
tried to elucidate the tragic captivity of individuals in the civil war from
a different ethical perspective: in Gallows
Hill above all from a child's point of view and in the novel Fugue in the Cross from a
schizophrenic's. The author here shows the interwar destiny of Slovenes
through a parable motive of the twin brothers, fighting on the opposite
ideological sides. In both novels the extensions of existentialism are
interwoven with the elements of modernism, the style is bold, heterogeneous
and very special. In the novel Noah's
Cottage there are still echoes of the war themes but again Snoj is in the
present time and in more private events of the critical period in the process
of independence of Slovenia. Snoj
wrote also numerous books for children: the poems are various in sound,
rhythms, and based on puns (Hurdy-gurdy,
Poems for little Girls and Boys, Through the Garden and Across the Plain);
the prose subjects are mostly in the manner of a fairy-tale (Blackguard-blackbird and Blackbirds, Auto
Motor Ants, Aurora from Evening-red, The Fairy-tale of Water Drop, The Dawn
of the World). The elements of fairy-tales sometimes change into
grotesque, parable, allegory or poetical paraphrasing of biblical themes (Homer Homeless and Lass Nameless, Baby
Starling-little Ninny, Divining about God). As critic, Snoj was systematically writing about books being published, as journalist for nearly thirty years he was occupied with actual contemporary questions in connection with literary and cultural political themes (Printing Chronicle, numerous magazine publications); among the themes in the eighties prevails striving for Slovene independence. Similar items dominate also in his essays (Symbolism of Josip Murn, The Killing of Soil, Handke's Paradox, In between Word and God). In polemically written The Killing of Soil the author's ethical standpoint comes from his absolute recognition of the sacredness of life, while in his nineties' essays religious thinking and self-questioning are typical. |
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