Edvard Kocbek and the Magazine Esprit: Anatomy of an Encounter
Edvard Kocbek (1904–1981) was a distinguished poet, storyteller, essayist, diarist, translator, and politician. He is well-known for his views on Christian socialism and the active role he played in the Slovenian Liberation Front (Osvobodilna fronta, OF) during the Second World War, as well as in post-war, socialist Yugoslavia. Kocbek was also at the centre of political controversies when, in the late 1930s, he came into conflict with the leading Catholic circles in Slovenia, as well as in the early 1950s, when he fell out of favor with the Yugoslav communists. At the root of these disputes were some of the key issues of his intellectual biography, as well as the fact that in the actions of this left-wing Catholic, one can also discern elements of existentialist poetics, rooted in a philosophy of freedom and responsibility, authentic life and constant rebellion, which shaped the intricate interplay between this intellectual’s engagement with politics, literature, and history. In this regard, Kocbek’s connection with the French intellectual scene, which nevertheless played a formative role in his development, has remained insufficiently explored.
The aim of my presentation is to use a prosopographical approach to examine a kind of collective portrait of the intellectual group surrounding the French magazine Esprit, and, in particular, Edvard Kocbek’s place within it. What influenced the young Slovenian poet to associate himself with this influential publication and to remain loyal to it throughout his life? How does his intellectual biography appear to us in light of this “French connection”, and how was he and his work perceived by his French contemporaries? On what foundations did the enduring relationship between Christian existentialism, personalism, and socialism rest? How did these decades-long contacts and cultural exchanges shape Kocbek’s political fate, as well as his literary and intellectual work?
This paper is based on extensive source material, including Kocbek’s diaries and articles, beginning with his stay in France and the founding of the magazine in 1932, continuing through his first personal contacts with the group in 1937, and then the wartime and post-war correspondence he maintained with Emmanuel Mounier, Jean-Marie Domenach, Albert Béguin, Pierre Emmanuel, Pierre-Aimé Touchard, and others. The materials are preserved as part of Kocbek’s personal papers at the National and University Library in Ljubljana, as well as in the archives of the journal Esprit and those of its principal protagonists at the Institut Mémoires de l’édition contemporaine (Abbaye d’Ardenne) near Caen, France.
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Veljko Stanić is historian and translator from Belgrade. He studied history at the University of Belgrade and then pursued a Ph.D. thesis on French-Yugoslav cultural relations in the interwar period at Sorbonne University (Paris IV). His fields of interest are cultural and intellectual history of the Balkans in the 19th and 20th century, French-Yugoslav relations, dissident movement in communist Yugoslavia including figures such as Milovan Djilas and Edvard Kocbek, and also women’s intellectual history.
E-mail: veljko.stanic1984@gmail.com
