Mateja Matevski
Encyclopedia
Mateja Matevski is a renowned Macedonian
poet
, literary and theatre critic
, essayist, and translator.
. He worked as a journalist for Macedonian Radio and Television, editor of the cultural and literary programme, editor-in-chief and director of the Television as well as Director General of the Radio Television Skopje. He also held the function of President of the Commission for cultural relations abroad and was a member of the Presidency of SR Macedonia. He was an editor for the publishing house “Koco Racin”. He served as Professor of History of World Drama
and a professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje.
Matevski has been the editor of the literary journals “Mlada literatura” and “Razgledi” and one-time president of the Macedonian Writers’ Association. He has also been the president of the Council of the Struga Poetry Evenings
Festival, “Racinovi sredbi” and Macedonian Literary Foundation. He is a corresponding member of the North-American Academy in the Spanish language.
Mateja Matevski is a central figure in the second generation of Macedonian poet-intellectuals who came to maturity with their nation in the 1950s and shaped the main directions of its contemporary literature. The founding generation of Macedonian poets who came before them—that of Blaze Koneski and Aco Sopov—had fought the battles for modernism beside their Serbian colleagues and against the Zdanovite realists of the early socialist days. Now a second generation, university poets educated after the war, brought a new complexity, an informed literacy, and a heightened symbolic complexity to that literature. Poets such as Radovan Pavlovski shaped Macedonian natural imagery to new surrealistic power; Gane Todorovski and Vlada Urosevic brought contemporary and urban subjects into the poetry, but it would be Bogomil Gjuzel and especially Matevski who would bring that poetry to a new formal and referential awareness, a sense of form, and a consciousness in composition perhaps necessary to gain for it the high regard that it now enjoys in the world.
Thirty books of his poetry have been published in twenty foreign languages. He has published over forty books of translations from Spanish, French, Slovenian, Russian, Albanian and Serbian.
Macedonians (ethnic group)
The Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs: "... the term Slavomacedonian was introduced and was accepted by the community itself, which at the time had a much more widespread non-Greek Macedonian ethnic consciousness...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, literary and theatre critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
, essayist, and translator.
Career
Mateja Matevski graduated from the Faculty of Philology in SkopjeSkopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
. He worked as a journalist for Macedonian Radio and Television, editor of the cultural and literary programme, editor-in-chief and director of the Television as well as Director General of the Radio Television Skopje. He also held the function of President of the Commission for cultural relations abroad and was a member of the Presidency of SR Macedonia. He was an editor for the publishing house “Koco Racin”. He served as Professor of History of World Drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
and a professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje.
Matevski has been the editor of the literary journals “Mlada literatura” and “Razgledi” and one-time president of the Macedonian Writers’ Association. He has also been the president of the Council of the Struga Poetry Evenings
Struga Poetry Evenings
Struga Poetry Evenings is an international poetry festival held annually in Struga, Republic of Macedonia. During the several decades of its existence, the Festival has awarded its most prestigious award, the Golden Wreath, to some of the most notable international poets, including: Mahmoud...
Festival, “Racinovi sredbi” and Macedonian Literary Foundation. He is a corresponding member of the North-American Academy in the Spanish language.
Mateja Matevski is a central figure in the second generation of Macedonian poet-intellectuals who came to maturity with their nation in the 1950s and shaped the main directions of its contemporary literature. The founding generation of Macedonian poets who came before them—that of Blaze Koneski and Aco Sopov—had fought the battles for modernism beside their Serbian colleagues and against the Zdanovite realists of the early socialist days. Now a second generation, university poets educated after the war, brought a new complexity, an informed literacy, and a heightened symbolic complexity to that literature. Poets such as Radovan Pavlovski shaped Macedonian natural imagery to new surrealistic power; Gane Todorovski and Vlada Urosevic brought contemporary and urban subjects into the poetry, but it would be Bogomil Gjuzel and especially Matevski who would bring that poetry to a new formal and referential awareness, a sense of form, and a consciousness in composition perhaps necessary to gain for it the high regard that it now enjoys in the world.
Thirty books of his poetry have been published in twenty foreign languages. He has published over forty books of translations from Spanish, French, Slovenian, Russian, Albanian and Serbian.
Selected works
- Rains (poetry, 1956)
- The Equinox (poetry, 1963)
- Irises (poetry, 1976)
- The Circle (poetry, 1977)
- Lime Tree (poetry, 1980)
- The birth of Tragedy (poetry, 1985)
- From Tradition to the Future (criticism and essays, 1987)
- Drama and Theatre (theatre criticism and essays, 1987)
- Moving Away (poetry, 1990)
- Black tower (poetry, 1992)
- Carry away (poetry, 1996)
- The Light of the Word (criticism and essays)
- The Dead One (poetry, 1999)
- Inner area (poetry, 2000)
Awards
- Macedonian Writers’ Association Award, “Miladinov Brothers”, “11th October”, “Grigor Prlicev”, “Koco Racin”
- Book of the Year from the Macedonian literary foundation, “Praznik na lipite”, “Kliment Ohridski”, *The great award “Makedonsko slovo”, “Kiril Pejcinovic”, “Goranov Venec” (Lukovdol, Croatia), “Blez Sandrar” (Iverdon, Switzerland),
- “Premio Mediterraneo “ - special award (Palermo, Italy)
- “Fernando Rielo” - world award for mystical poetry - for the book “The black tower” (Madrid, Spain),
- “Zupanciceva listina” - Slovenian Writers’ Association (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
- “Atlantida” (Las Palmas, Spain)
- Holder of the French Legion of Honour, Arts and Literature.
- "Jan Smrek Prize" - awarded for his life-long poetical work (Slovakia, 2010)