Interview with Stanislava Chrobáková Repar, Poet, Editor, Translator and Critic, by Fiona

Interview with Stanislava Chrobáková Repar, poet, editor, translator and critic, by Fiona Sampson

Stanislava Repar was Editor of Rhomboid, the magazine of the Slovakian Writers’ Association. Since 2001 she has lived Ljubljana and worked as managing editor at Apokalipsa (publishing house and literary review) and editor in chief of Fractal magazine. Her interests include literary hermeneutics and feminist literary science. She is co-founder of the Writers of Slovakia, a founding member of Slovak PEN center and a member of Društva Slovenskih pisateljev (Association of Slovenian Writers). She co-founded MIRA, the women's section of Slovenian PEN. She writes in both Slovak and Slovene, as well as translating between the languages. She has published eight collections of poetry, four books of prose and four scholarly monograph, and been translated into English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Polish, Hungarian, Croatian - Serbian - Montenegrin, Macedonian, Russian, Finnish, Lusatian Serbian, Slovenian and Slovak.

Can you tell me a bit about your last book?

I have written two last books, because one collection of poetry was published in Slovakia, and another one in Slovene language in Slovenia both are like originals for me, and some poems are the same, but in different language versions and some poems are only in Slovak or only in Slovenian languages.

I think that I finished with my experiment Repar 3, and there are also some collections, or some parts of the books which are like the civilisation of some switching of my poetics.

So do you see yourself as a Slovak or a Slovenian poet, or both?

I think after living 15 years in Slovenia, I am a poet of both cultural surroundings. I write in both languages, but absolutely I will stay more free in my mother language, in Slovak language.Although in experimental poetry, this collection between two languages and Slavic languages can be really challenging, for next works and next poems.

So do you think that will form your future writing?

I think yes, the distinctions are my contribution to maybe central European or European poetry, these influences which you can feel in my Slovak or my Slovene expressions and also these traditions which are behind this, my writing.

Could you just say a little bit about those traditions?

I think that Slovene tradition is more like classic. They are not afraid of more impression poetry, poetry which is based on feelings. In Slovakia the situation is completely different. Younger poets or poets of middle age generation, they try to write very post-modern poetry or post post-modern poetry and experimental plays are the regular part of their expression. So I am now more encouraged to bring this classic tradition back to Slovak surroundings and to be more experimental in Slovene literature and culture.

Sounds very exciting. Do you think that one person can make a cultural change all by themselves?

I think not, but it can be a very strong pattern for people who can follow his or her thought and can show other ways or discourses within some literary themes.

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