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1878–1899
From childhood to Čaša opojnosti
Oton Župančič was born on 23 January 1878 in Vinica to father Franc Župančič and mother Ana, née Malič. Soon after his birth the family moved to Dragatuš, where his parents opened a shop and an inn. He spent his childhood between Vinica and Dragatuš, where he attended primary school, and then continued his education in Novo mesto. Already as a grammar-school pupil he showed exceptional literary talent – he wrote his first children’s poems (Pesem nagajivka), published the handwritten student paper Na prelji together with his fellow Bela Krajina native Franc Derganc, and befriended peers who would later leave their mark on Slovenian art and science. He regularly spent his holidays in Bela Krajina, which remained an important source of inspiration throughout his creative life.
In 1891 he continued his education at the upper grammar school in Ljubljana. During his school years in Ljubljana, he increasingly entered literary and intellectual circles. As a fifth-year pupil he took part in the circle of Janez Evangelist Krek, the so-called “Ligaši”, and published his first poems in the youth magazines Angelček and Vrtec and in the magazine Dom in svet. In his sixth year, Ivan Cankar introduced him to the free-thinking student society Zadruga. There he also met Dragotin Kette and Josip Murn. He gradually distanced himself from the Catholic magazines and began publishing in the liberal Ljubljanski zvon.
Meanwhile, the family was hit by an economic crisis that forced them to sell the estate in Dragatuš and move to Ljubljana, where they lived modestly. After successfully passing his school-leaving exam in 1896, he went to Vienna and enrolled at the Faculty of Arts. While studying history and geography he faced great material hardship and supported himself with odd jobs. He took an intense interest in art and became acquainted with European artists and thinkers such as Dehmel, Verlaine, Baudelaire and Nietzsche. In 1899 he published his first poetry collection, Čaša opojnosti, pervaded by the experience of big-city life and the spirit of European decadence and neo-Romanticism.
1900–1913
From Pisanice to Ani
In 1900 Župančič published Pisanice, a collection of poems for children and young people. The following years were marked by personal trials: he was shaken by the death of his friend, the poet Josip Murn, to whom he dedicated the famous cycle Manom Josipa Murna – Aleksandrova, and by the loss of his younger sister Mimica. After completing his military service in Eggenberg near Graz, he taught briefly in Ljubljana and then, dividing his time between Vienna, Ljubljana and various places in Germany, worked as a private tutor and librarian for an aristocratic family.
In 1904 he published his second poetry collection, Čez plan, began translating Shakespeare and published the one-act play Noč na verne duše in Ljubljanski zvon. In 1905 he travelled to Paris, where he was captivated by contemporary European art and perfected his English and French. In 1908 he published his third poetry collection, Samogovori, and adopted the spelling Župančič for his surname. In 1910 he settled permanently in Ljubljana, where he worked as a dramaturge, translator and theatre-maker. In 1912 he published the collection of poems for young readers Lahkih nog naokrog, and a year later he became the city archivist and married Ana (Ani) Kessler.
1914–1932
From Ciciban to the “Adamič” affair
In 1914 Ani and Oton’s first son, Marko, was born. During this period, he published the collection of poems for young readers Ciciban in še kaj and the collection Sto ugank, both of which were received exceptionally well by readers and saw numerous reprints. In 1916 the couple’s second son, Andrej, was born. As editor of Ljubljanski zvon, he also published the important essay on literary theory Ritem in metrum.
In 1920 he published the poetry collection Mlada pota (a selection from his first three collections and a dozen other poems) and his fourth poetry collection, V zarje Vidove, and he also returned to the National Theatre in Ljubljana as dramaturge, where he devoted himself intensively to translating the classics of the stage. In 1924 his tragedy Veronika Deseniška was published, and its staging sparked lively debate. In 1926 he became president of the Slovenian Writers’ Association and of the Slovenian PEN Centre. For his fiftieth birthday in 1928, celebrations were held in his honour in Vinica and in Ljubljana. In 1929 he took over the management of the country’s central arts institutions, the theatre and the opera, and a few years later provoked a widely publicised public controversy with his essay Adamič in slovenstvo.
1933–1949
From “Ostrnice” to his death
In the 1930s, illness led Župančič to withdraw for treatment to Koča vas in the Notranjska region, where he began writing poetry again after a long pause. He published the lyrical cycle Med ostrnicami. Between 1936 and 1938 his collected works were published in four volumes. For his sixtieth birthday, celebrations were held in his honour in Vinica and in Belgrade, and in 1938 he also became a member of the newly founded Academy of Sciences and Arts.
In 1941 he published the poem Pojdite za menjoj! (later known as Poet, Do You Know Your Debt?) under the pseudonym “Neznani” (The Unknown). The poem then became one of the key poetic texts of the Partisan resistance. After the liberation of Ljubljana in 1945, he greeted the Partisans over the radio and welcomed the Slovenian government from the balcony of the University on Congress Square. He published his last poetry collection, Zimzelen pod snegom. In 1946 he took over the management of the Institute for the Culture of the Slovenian Language at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. On his seventieth birthday he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Ljubljana and the honorary title of “People’s Artist”, conferred on him by the Slovenian Assembly. He died of asthma in his Ljubljana apartment on 11 June 1949.
Do you know your duty, poet?
Oton Župančič, 1941
Source: adapted from the text of the collection “Župančič, mojster besede” by Marijan Dović.