Edvard Kocbek is a Slovenian writer, poet and politican. Born on 27. September 1904 in Sveti jurij pri Ščavnici, he died on 3. November 1981 in Ljubljana. In his life he wrote poetry, log-narrative prose, philosophical, theological and political studies, discussions, essays and articles.

Once he abandoned the study of theology he went to study Romance in Ljubljana, and at the end of the study in Berlin and Paris he worked as professor of French language in Bjelovar, Varaždin and Ljubljana. Here he was an active member of the Slovenian cultural and political life. He became one of the ideological leaders of Chatolic cultural left. He was also an editor of magazine Dejanje. In year 1941 was among the founders of the Liberation front (OF) as a representative of the Christian Socialists. Later he became a member of its highest authorities.

As a poet, he started with his first publications in year 1924 in the Journal of students Strašnji ognji, later in magazine Dom in svet by publishing essays. As a modern poet he asserted himself with his first collection of poems titled Zemlja. In his works, he originally linked expressionist and symbolist elements.

In his works he has always been oriented towards the future. His works are unpredictable and it is not always necessary, that in the future everything most desirable and best will happen. Orientation towards the future is fraught with the fear of the end or death, since Illyrian entity believes that man is nothing compared to the infinity.

During the war he found himself in a difficult existential situation. The communists used NLS for class struggle and for seizure of power, as the poet’s illusion of a universal ethical and political transformation vanished. In the early 60s he was eliminated from the cultural public, as a result of his resignation from political life. Due to this he was not allowed to publish his works for many years. His post-war poems speak about the schism between ideal idea and the social reality, created in violence and fear.

As a writer, he was inspired by the religious expressionism, French personalism and exsistentialism. He was interested in fate of the scholar, who is confronted with major historical events, like National Liberation War and Fascism. Theme about NLS was in his novels mostly individual confession in a difficult historical period. His heroes are often split betwen their duties and their consicence. This novels brought new orientation into Slovneian literature, leaving behind the period of socialist realism.

Edvard Kocbek – The Lipizzaner
Edvard Kocbek is in song Lipizzaners in a poetic way expressed the fundamental characteristics of a noble white horse, the Lipizzaner. Horse was created with crossbreeding with Karst horses and other horse breeds on the Slovenian Karst. Edvard Kocbek poetised the Lipizzaner as a sacred animal. [_Read more_]