Birth date

08. 02. 1915  [en] Budmerice

Death date

11. 02. 1982  [en] Bratislava

Fields of interest

próza, poézia, dráma, publicistika

Briefly about author

Rudolf Fabry`s poetic beginnings date back to the first half of the Thirties when he published in the magazines Svojeť and Postup. In 1933 seven of his poems appeared in the Anthology of Slovak Poetry. His stay in Prague had a great influence on his subsequent development where the poetry of the European avant-garde was made available in Czech translation, chiefly surrealism, which at that time had penetrated Czech poetry (V. Nezval and K. Teige). Fabry`s first work Severed Hands is considered as the beginning of surrealism in Slovak literature. The creative methods and manner of constructing a poetic image went sharply against the era`s poetic conventions relying on a new symbolist canon, and in such proportions that Fabry`s poetry was regarded as a provocation. The poet employed a method of free association and spontaneous free imagery on the principles of the so-called spastic beauty. The inclination towards a new artistic vision of reality and subsequent parting from old poetical methods appeared as specific aesthetic styles such as when crossing through the title PrologueFair Play. Thus the young poet became a kind of spiritual father of surrealism although the "overrealistic" group of poets (nadrealisti) was not formed for another three years.
Fabry widened this surrealist poetic method in his second collection Water Clock Clock of Sand. He employed it both in long poems and in two short prose texts in the book. The creation of imagery was built on a principle of connecting meaningfully distant or opposed words, chiefly in the form of genitive metaphor, which was
a feature of early Slovak "overrealism". Poetry obtains here a fantastical, dream-like and sensitive character.
The poetic composition I Is Somebody Else is the high point of Fabry`s achievement. Fragments had been published during the Second World War in the "overrealist" collections Dream and Reality (1940), Greeting (1942) and in the magazine Elán. Apocalyptic visions (which had appeared in previous books) prevail as a reaction to Fascist totalitarianism and war. In two parts of the work Fabry created the figure Féneo - "devil of the metaphor" - who accompanies the poet through a world of suffering and horror.
To Fabry`s successful collections of the post-war period we can add A Breeze Above the Stars of Death and The Unstony Rock the Unrocky Boulder, the latter being devoted to the memory of the romantic poet Janko Kráľ, and the book Metamorphosis of Metaphors where he wrote texts on topical social themes.
The most significant parts of his work are the books he published in the 1930`s and 1940`s. At that time Fabry instigated the birth of Slovak "overrealism" which provided him with inspiration, and so his work contributed to the development of Slovak poetry.
Fabry was also interested in graphics and collage. He illustrated his books but also several works of his fellow writers.

Briefly about production

poetry (a selection):
Severed Hands (Uťaté ruky, 1935), Water Clock Clock of Sand (Vodné hodiny hodiny piesočné, 1938), I Is Somebody Else (Ja je niekto iný, 1946), Bouquets for This Life (Kytice tomuto životu, 1953), Everyone Will Return (Každý sa raz vráti, 1964), A Breeze above the Nests of Death (Nad hniezdami smrti vánok, 1969), The Unstony Rock the Unrocky Boulder (Skala nekamenná bralo neskalnaté, 1973), The Rose Bleeds on the Shield (Na štít ruža krváca, 1977), Metamorphosis of Metaphors (Metamorfózy metafor, 1978). The collection of poems, Nenogista roze, published in 2011 in Latvien contains also selected poems by him. 

short stories:
The Bells Don`t Toll for Such as These (Takým zvony nezvonia, 1978)

feuilletons and reportages:

To Praise with the Pen, to Shoot with the Pen (Perom chváľ, perom páľ, 1956), Salaam Alaikum: Conversations about Old and New Egypt (Salam alejkum. Rozprávanie
o starom a novom Egypte, 1958), The Good Old Ship (Stará dobrá loď, 1962), Meeting Beneath the Sakuras: Reports from EXPO `70 and from Japan (Stretnutie pod sakurami. Reportáže z EXPO`70 a z Japonska, 1971), The World Tastes Thus (Tak chutí svet, 1978)

radio plays:
Morning Teachers (Ranní učitelia, 1972), The Day of Sheep Cheese Noodles (Deň bryndzových halušiek, 1973), Forget-Me-Nots Don`t Speak at Night (Nezábudky v noci nehovoria, 1974)

poetry for children:
Drawings from a Little Palm and Lines on Them (Kresby z malej dlane a veršíky na ne, 1950)

TRANSLATIONS BY THE AUTHOR
P. Neruda: If Only the Woodcutter Would Awake (1951)

WORKS TRANSLATED
Fabry`s poems have been translated into a number of languages and published abroad in magazines and anthologies.
I Is Somebody Else (1971 Czech)
Selected Poems (1979 Polish)

Biography for author

Born 8 February 1915 in Budmerice. After matriculating from the gymnasium in Trnava in 1933 he studied drawing and geography at the Czech Technical Institute in Prague. After completing his studies in 1937 he returned to Slovakia and settled permanently in Bratislava. For some years he worked as a clerk. From 1947 until his retirement in 1975 he worked as a journalist in a number of periodicals: Práca, Nedeľa, Život, Film a divadlo, Kultúrny život, as chief editor of Expres and Výtvarný život, and as a freelance writer. Fabry died 11 February 1982 in Bratislava.

about author

Fabry`s revolt against old modes of expression, unusually for us, is accompanied by a revolt against themes, our society and religion and the surrealistic method used which is so fond of dialectics and jokes, here achieves a legitimate success. It can be said that only now is the old verse of Slovak poetry finally destroyed, the old themes being ridiculed.

Fabry`s first collection Severed Hands was for one group a provocation in its unprecedented youthful riot in Slovak literature which could get used to such "hooliganism" only with difficulty (and indeed is not used to it to this day). For others this was the long expected new "courageous and young" word, declaring new opportunities for Slovak poetry. As far as the presence of deliberate "provocation" is concerned, I really don`t know whether there is an equivalent to Fabry`s début in the history of our poetry.

Awards

Title of Meritorious Artist (1975)

Sample

A SEQUENCE IN HONOUR OF A FOURTEEN YEAR OLD LEPER GIRL