Milan Rúfus
| Milan Rúfus | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 10, 1928 Závažná Poruba, Czechoslovakia (now part of Slovakia) |
| Died | January 11, 2009 (aged 80) Bratislava, Slovakia |
| Occupation | poet, translator |
| Language | Slovak |
| Alma mater | Comenius University in Bratislava |
Milan Rúfus (December 10, 1928 – January 11, 2009) was a Slovak poet, essayist, translator, children's writer and academic.
He was born in Závažná Poruba in a bricklayer family, in the Žilina region. After graduation at grammar school in Liptovský Mikuláš in 1948 he went to the Faculty of Arts at Comenius University in Bratislava and studied Slovak language, literature, and history. From 1952 to 1989 he lectured at the university on the history of Slovak and Czech literature. From 1971 to 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 magazines Prameň (Stream), Nový rod (New lineage), Mladá tvorba (Production of young ones) and Borba in the 1940s and debuted with his first collection, Až dozrieme ("When We Grow Mature") in 1956. Až dozrieme was a huge progression in understanding of poetry in that period. His work was influenced by symbolism, while he has also a strong social feeling. His source of inspiration was Slovak folk art, work of various Slovak painters and also work of photographer Martin Martinček. Beside writing for adults he devote some time to children's literature. He introduced himself as a poet with an autonous view of moral and life values, of love, truth, beauty, suffering and the tragedy of both man and the world of the second half of the 20th century. He was searching for the meaning and essence of life with great perception and sensibility. In his work, he submerged deep into the problematics of life's sorrows, uncertainties, delights, happines and also resistance.
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.
...
Wikipedia