Štimec, Spomenka (Ŝtimec) [pseud. Darija Simić] (b.1949)
Croatian, qualified teacher of German and French; learnt Esperanto in 1964. Štimec worked for the Internacia Kultura Servo [Intl Cultural Service] in Zagreb from 1972 to ’94, which included organizing the highly successful Pupteatra Internacia Festivalo [Intl Festival of Puppet Theatre] (1968–88); Zagreb television broadcast the performances with Štimec’s translations. From 1995 she has been secretary of the Kroata Esperanto-Ligo [Croatian Eo League].
Štimec’s first collection of stories, Darija, appeared in Croatian in 1975 under her pseudonym, since when she has become a significant author in Esperanto, winning several prizes in the Literary Competitions at world Esperanto congresses and elsewhere from 1978 onwards. Her work has appeared in the periodicals Jes; sed… [Yes; but…], Heroldo de Esperanto, Esperanto, El Popola Ĉinio [From People’s China], Tempo [Time], Monato and Mezmara Stelo [Mediterranean Star]. Štimec has lectured in France, Sweden, Iran, South Korea and Japan, and been a guest teacher of Esperanto in the American universities of Hartford, San Francisco and Brattleboro. She has been a member of the board of the World Esperanto Association (UEA). From 1983 she has been secretary of the Esperantlingva Verkista Asocio [Eo-speaking Writers’ Assn]. From 1995 Štimec has been working for the Kroata Esperanto-Ligo [Croatian Eo League]. She has become one of the most widely read and appreciated contemporary writers in Esperanto, receiving particular praise for her style.
In his review of Štimec’s intimate autobiographical novel Ombro sur Interna Pejzaĝo [Shadow on an Internal Landscape] (1984, 2nd ed. 1996), Tyburcjusz Tyblewski (q.v.) writes in the literary review Fonto (1985):
The author recounts her life as an Esperantist, in which love and living together with a partner from a different culture are entwined. … Feelings rule their life together and … characterize the novel. Perhaps since Vivo Vokas by Stellan Engholm [q.v.] this Ombro sur Interna Pejzaĝo is for me the first in which life pulses with a warm and natural rhythm.
In his review in World Literature Today (1985), Humphrey Tonkin comments that:
To the American reader the novel may appear slightly unreconstructed: a woman describes how men have acted upon her and seems to accept such action as inevitable. The heart of the novel, however, lies not in psychology but in geography. What makes the work so extraordinarily interesting is the cultural interaction that it describes. Ombro sur Interna Pejzaĝo contributes to Esperanto culture in an ultimately paradoxical way: it simultaneously describes the difficulty of communication across cultures and itself contributes to the literature of a language designed for such communication.
Jacques Le Puil (Fonto, No.95, 1988) emphasizes that:
Above all what is important is Spomenka Štimec’s style, incontestibly the most beautiful I know, the freshest, spontaneous, natural. This book is sufficient to disprove the assertions of the Iltis school on the enrichment of the literary language.
Gerrit Berveling (EL25J, p.22–3) compares Štimec’s work with that of Trevor Steele (q.v.): ‘an author with a good-classic, sober style; with respect for cultures other than her own …’
Štimec’s travelogue on Japan, Nesenditaj Leteroj el Japanio [Unsent Letters to Japan], appeared in 1990. In his review, Giulio Cappa (1993) calls Štimec’s style:
… the most beautiful contemporary Esperanto prose. Štimec writes with a very nuanced yet very comprehensible language, she handles it in her own, emotional and touching way… Quick, eloquent stokes of the brush render the little book both a worthy presentation of a civilization and an important work of art in our original literature.
Its Japanese translation appeared the following year, and a Chinese version a year later.
Štimec’s Geografio de Miaj Memoroj [A Geography of My Memories] (1992) is a travelogue on seven countries.
Štimec’s collection of short stories Vojaĝo al Disiĝo [Journey to Separation] (1990) has been described as a bundle of études that delight with their style and originality of thought, mild lyricism and heartfelt love of humanity. Most of the pieces appeared in various periodicals before the publication of Ombro sur Interna Pejzaĝo in 1984. However, ‘Aŭstralio’ [Australia] won first prize for proze in the Literary Competions at the 1987 World Esperanto Congress in Warsaw, and other pieces followed this book.
In his review (1993) of both Geografio de Miaj Memoroj and Vojaĝo al Disiĝo, Ulrich Lins points out Štimec’s preference for intimacy and ‘working on themes close to the environment of her readers. Her gaze is directed towards ordinary people. And she insists on a simple style, which for this very reason is beautiful.’ Lins continues:
She also succeeds, more than any other contemporary writer, to draw on [Esperanto’s] tradition of universal respect for all mankind (homarana tradicio) and relate to it the observations she makes on the present-day, both at home and while travelling… she personalizes a successful attempt to fully use Esperanto’s potential and simultaneously pass on the acquired broadness of mind to others.’
Mark Fettes, in his review (1993), also comments that the book is not written for just any group of people, but precisely for that group of fellow-sufferers, who have by fate become attached to Zamenhof’s language. ‘With tender-hearted wit, Štimec re-creates the little ironies that it brings with it – and the profound truths that hide under its surface.’ He concludes: ‘Štimec has a further quality in common with [Esperanto’s] great poets: she is prepared to work. This decade of texts is evidence of the care with which she has tailored and polished its style.’
Lins also reviews Štimec’s Kroata Milita Noktlibro [Nightly Diary of the Croatian War] (1993), which ‘reports, including examples from her own family, on the consequences of the separations of the Croats and Serbs; bitterly noting that hate is growing like a flood.’ This work has appeared in translation in several countries.
Štimec’s family chronical Tena: Hejmo en Mezeŭropo [Tena: A Home in Central Europe] (1996) presents a personal view of the Central Europe of the previous generation. Ulrich Becker (q.v.), in his review in Esperanto (1996), considers that Tena stands in line with Štimec’s other works of prose, ‘of equal stature in her fascinating simplicity, beautiful and yet sad’. Personal reminiscences are spiced with comments on family and regional customs, typical situations, favourite everyday things, against the background of the almost coincidental rise and fall of Yugoslavia and the nonsensical and tragic religious and national animosities.
La Aŭstralia Pupo [The Australian Doll] (1997) is a collection of four stories on immigrants in Australia. It was only duplicated in a small number of copies, but it has an English translation.
Tilla (2002) is a biography of the Croatian actress Tilla Durieux (b.1881–71).
The main protagonist of Štimec’s historical novel Hodler en Mostar [H. in M.] (2006) is, in fact, neither the famous Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918) nor his son Hector, who founded the World Esperanto Association (UEA) in 1908, but one of Ferdinand’s favourite models, Jeanne, who watched over his paintings.
Paul Gubbins (q.v.), in his review (2007), calls the story ‘fascinating, laconic, economically presented – on love, both declared and undeclared, loyalty, faithfulness and tragedy. A story, then, yes and no on paintings, but mainly about people.’ Hector Hodler and Edmond Privat (q.v.) play minor roles in a ‘book inspired by, arising out of and written in the language of Zamenhof, in which Esperanto is – quite rightly – in the background.’
Štimec’s two plays Gastamo [Hospitality] (1982) and Virino kiu Flustras en Uragano [A Woman who Whispers in a Hurricane] (1986) were both performed at the World Esperanto Congress in the year of their publication, the former in Antwerp, and the latter in Beijing in honour of the Japanese writer Teru Hasegawa (q.v.), alias ‘Verda Majo’.
Other works: Štimec has written a short biog. of Sekelj (q.v.): Tibor Sekelj: Pioniro de la Dua Jarcento [T.S.: Pioneer of the Second Century] (1989).
Štimec has collaborated with and edited many diverse publications, the most important of which are: Rumana Antologio [Romanian Anth.] (1983), Kroatia Poezio [Croatian Poetry] (1983), a Croatian ed. (1988) of Ne Nur Leteroj de Plumamikoj [Not Just Letters by Pen Friends] by Marjorie Boulton (q.v.), Antologio de Kroataj Unuaktaj Dramoj [Anth. of Croatian One-act Plays] (1997), Mirindaj Aventuroj de Metilernanto Hlapiĉ[The Wonderful Adventures of the Apprentice Hlapich] (1998, trans. of the prize-winning children’s book Čudnovate zgode Šegrta Hlapica by Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (1874–1938), Poezio Internacia / Poésie en espéranto avec traduction en français à l’occasion de Universala Esperanto-Kongreso, Montpellier 1998, containing French trans. of Eo poems for the Esperantlingva Verkista Asocio [Eo-speaking Writers’ Assn], and Slavonia Arbaro [The Slavonian Forest] (1999, trans. of the novel Slavonska šuma by Josip Kozarac (1858–1906).
Štimec is co-author of the so-called Zagreb teaching-method [Zagreba metodo], which has produced textbooks for teaching Esperanto in several languages, including English. Her didactic works include the highly successful little reader Esperanto Ne Estas Nur Lingvo [Eo Is Not Just a Lang.] (4th ed. 2002).
She also edited the trans. anth. of works by 20 modern female Croatian poets Kroataj Poetinoj de la 20-a Jarcento (2003).
On Štimec: U. Lins: ‘Ĉerpo el la Homarana Tradicio’ [Drawing on the Tradition of Universal Respect for All Mankind] – reviews (1993).
Translation by Štimec from • Croatian: contr. trans. for the anth. Kroatia Prozo [Croatian Prose] ed. S. Štimec (1983); also in I. Sanader et al.: En Tiu Terura Momento: Antologio de la Nuntempa Kroata Milita Liriko [In That Terrible Moment: Anth. of the Contemporary Croatian War Poetry] (1998).
Work in Croatian: Darija (short stories, 1975).
Štimec in translation: pts of Kroata Milita Noktlibro appeared in trans. in several countries, above all in newspapers (cf. details below) into • English: ‘Aŭstralio’ (1987), trans. by Will Firth, as ‘Australia: the Family Secret’ in Canberra Times (21 July 1991, p.21). La Aŭstralia Pupo / The Australian Doll (1997) is a bilingual ed. (eo, en) • Bulgarian: short story ‘Alian Fojon’, trans. by Atanas Ilkov, as ‘Gleabać put’ [demandis de Georgi je 14/9/07] in Panorama Esperanto, No.1 (1990) • Chinese: Nesenditaj Leteroj el Japanio appeared in 1992 as Rìbeˇn jiànwén • Dutch: ‘La Enterigo’, pt from Kroata Milita Noktlibro, trans. by G. Berveling as ‘De begrafenis’ in De schalm No.49 (Aug. 1993) • French: Kroata Milita Noktlibro appeared as Journal de nuit in 2004 • German: Kroata Milita Noktlibro appeared as Kroatisches Kriegsnachtbuch in 2004 • Hungarian: short story ‘Vojaĝo al Disiĝo’ as ‘Utazás az elválás felé’ in Szabad Szombat, Romániai Magyar Szó (Bukarest, 16 Feb. 1996), trans. by J.E. Nagy • Japanese: Nesenditaj Leteroj el Japanio [trans. by Singo Mori Singo publ. en CSN Cultural Story of Nishinihon N-ro 292, 1993-6?] Nesenditaj Leteroj el Japanio, trans. by Singo Mori, appeared as Esuperanto kanzyôryokô: Dasanakatta nippondayori in 1990/1?; from which his trans. of ‘Postparolo el la Rifuĝejo’ appeared in Cultural Story of Nishihihon No.283 (1992). Kroata Milita Noktlibro appeared as Tyôzyû Senka no Kuroatia kara in 1993. Tena: Hejmo en Mezeŭropo appeared as Kuroatia monogatari: Tyûô, aru kazoku no nizyusseiki in 1999, and was dramatized by Japanese Radio NHK, who broadcast it in 2000 and ’01. Ombro sur Interna Pejzaĝo, Geografio de Miaj Memoroj and Tena are featured in Esuperanto dokusyo nôto / Pri Esperantaj Libroj (1999) by M. Yamaguti. Tilla (2005, as Bômei – Zyoyû Tira Doryû no bâi by Mori Singo) • Swedish: ‘Nokta Vojaĝo al la Kastelo Bosa’ as ‘En nattlig färd till slottet Bosa’, trans. by G. Nilsson, in Elektrikern No.4 (1984) • Ukrainian: ‘Aŭstralio’, trans. by V. Pajuk, as ‘Avstralija’ in Rusalka Dnistrova (Ternopil, 1996).
• Selected work: Gastamo [Hospitality] (comedy, 1982). Ombro sur Interna Pejzaĝo [Shadow on an Internal Landscape] (novel, 1984, 2nd ed. 1996). Virino kiu Flustras en Uragano [Woman Whispering in a Hurrican] (short play, 1986). Vojaĝo al Disiĝo [Journey to Separation] (short stories, 1990). Nesenditaj Leteroj el Japanio [Unsent Letters to Japan] (prose, 1990). Geografio de Miaj Memoroj [A Geography of My Memories] (travelogue, 1992). Kroata Milita Noktlibro [Nightly Diary of the Croatian War] (prose, 1993). Tena: Hejmo en Mezeŭropo [Tena: A Home in Central Europe] (family chronicle, 1996). La Aŭstralia Pupo / The Australian Doll (stories, 1997). ‘Homa Emancipiĝo’ [Human Emanicipation] in Kio Ni Estas kaj Kion Ni Celas: Komentoj pri la Manifesto de la Movado por la Internacia Lingvo Esperanto (essay, 1999). ‘Zagrebaj Solistoj en Bonaero’ [Zabreb Soloists in Buenos Aires] in Mondoj: 34 Esperantaj Rakontoj ed. T. Chmielik (2001). Esperanto Ne Estas Nur Lingvo [Eo Is Not Just a Lang.] (4th ed. 2002). Tilla (biog., 2002).
Štimec, Spomenka: Australian Doll, The. Trans. from the Eo into English by W. Firth. Orig. La Aüstralia Pupo. (eo, en). Zagreb [HR]: Kroatia Esperanto-Ligo, 1997. ISBN 953-96918-1-8.
Štimec, Spomenka: Bômei – Zyoyû Tira Doryû no bâi. Trans. from the Eo into Japanese by Mori Singo. Orig.: Tilla. Tôkyô [JP]: Sinpûsya, 2005. ISBN 4-79745-082-7.
Štimec, Spomenka: Esuperanto kanzyôryokô: Dasanakatta nippondayori. Trans. from the Eo into Japanese by Singo Mori. Orig.: Nesenditaj Leteroj el Japanio. Hukuoka [JP]: Hukuoka Esuperanto Kyôkai, [1990].
Štimec, Spomenka: Journal de nuit. Trans. from the Eo into French by G. Martin. Orig.: Nesenditaj Leteroj el Japanio. Saulxures-sur-Muselotte [FR]: privately printed by the trans., 2004. ISBN 2-905730-04-8.
Štimec, Spomenka: Kuroatia monogatari: Tyûô, aru kazoku no nizyusseiki. Trans. from the Eo into Japanese by Singo Mori. Orig.: Tena: Hejmo en Mezeüropo. Tôkyô [JP]: Nihon Tosyo Kankôkai, 1999. ISBN 4-8231-0198-7.
Štimec, Spomenka: Kroatisches Kriegsnachtbuch. Trans. from the Eo into German. Orig.: Kroata Milita Noktlibro. Paderborn [DE]: Ferdinand Schöningh, 1994. ISBN 3-506-78799-3.
Štimec, Spomenka: Rìb¡n jiànwén. Trans. from the Eo into Chinese. HÛ’¡rbÏn [CN]: HÛ’¡rbÏn Gõngyè Dàzué Ch‡baˇnshè, 1992. ISBN 7-5603-0430-3.
Štimec, Spomenka: Tyôzyû – senka no Kuroatia kara. Trans. from the Eo into Japanese by Singo Mori. Orig.: Kroata Milita Noktlibro. Hukuoka [JP]: Kaityôsya, 1993. ISBN 4-87415-065-9.
Štimec, Spomenka (ed.): Esperanto u književnosti i političkom životu hrvatske / Esperanto en Literaturo kaj Politika Vivo de Kroatio. (hr, eo). Zagreb [HR]: Hrvatski savez za esperanto, [2005]. sen ISBN
Štimec, Spomenka: ‘Homa Emancipiĝo’ in O. Buller and R. Corsetti (eds) Kio Ni Estas kaj Kion Ni Celas … (1999).