Zvonko Plepelić

Zvonko Plepelić (1980)

Zvonko Stjepan Plepelić (born November 30, 1945 in Pleso , a suburb of Zagreb in what was then Yugoslavia ; † January 10, 2018 in Berlin ) was a German writer and librarian of Croatian origin.

life and work

Plepelić spent his childhood in Pleso. He had lived in Germany since he was twelve. After studying Slavic and Balkan Studies at the Free University of Berlin , from which he graduated with a doctorate, Plepelić worked for decades as a subject specialist for Southeast Europe in the Eastern Europe department of the Berlin State Library . Here he initiated the exhibition Three Fonts - Three Languages in 2002 . Croatian monuments and prints through centuries . Most recently he lived in Berlin-Halensee .

Plepelić wrote his or her own with everyone and you come at seven two volumes of poetry that appeared in 1978 and 1980. In 1981 the volume of poetry Niti ovdje - niti tamo ("Neither here nor there") was published in Croatian . In 1992 Martha's Kimono - Short Stories was published . In 1997, he saw his play A table must be here! its world premiere in Berlin. In 2016, the volume of poetry Tats ist - Gedichte zum Schunkeln was published . Plepelić also worked as a translator and translated into German poems by Neda Miranda Blažević, Vladimir Vidrić, Ante Stamać and Stevan Tontić, among others.

Poetry

Plepelić's poem "Tell it on"

In his acceptance speech for the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1993, the Protestant theologian and civil rights activist Friedrich Schorlemmer cited Plepelić's poem Sag es weiter as an example of a “poetry of peace”. The Serbian writer Bora Ćosić wrote about the volume of poems fact is - poems to rock:

“His book has all the advantages of modern poetry, in which everyday and profane details are used for one's own prosody, like Eliot did . Plepelić is an urban poet. His themes take up urban life, then move on to family and personal matters. But his interest extends beyond that. One cycle is dedicated to the slightly satirical descriptions of events in space. There are also a number of interesting résumés of various personalities, ranging from Donald Duck to Josip Broz Tito . His humor is particularly engaging, an attitude of mind that is also present in other Croatian poets such as Matoš , Krleža , Slamnig , Šoljan and Dragojević. "

theatre

In November 1997 Plepelić's piece A table must be found! premiered in the Berlin Theater Windspiel . The piece is about the fatal consequences of a newly acquired piece of furniture. The grotesque in a pilot scene and two episodes begins simply, but becomes complicated as the piece progresses. The Berliner Zeitung of March 26, 1999 reported on the content and the protagonists of the play:

“Gabi and Holger Löddel would be happily married if it weren't for the table that is too old-fashioned for them. He, on the other hand, loves it because of the small crank on the side with which you can adjust the height: from the coffee table to the dining table and back. The search for a replacement leads the two quirks into the hands of a dubious owl named Bonzo, who motivates, domestizes, manipulates and finally lets them sit at will. Jens Winter as the versatile animator keeps the bizarre conversation piece in lively rotation. The most beautiful laughs are achieved in the struggle for the ideal height of the eaves for the coffee cup to which the table should be brought. As a precaution, Katrin Trostmann and Maciej Marek Lysakowski, the picky couple, have long been balancing their cake plates on their knees anyway. The two no longer appear so nice when they hastily followed Bonzo's Führer airs, as if they wanted to go home with him to the Reich. Plepelić describes it all more amusingly than it is, and Eterović exposes it even more amusingly. The people are looking for the right height. "

Fonts

• The Serbo-Croatian diminutives on -ca, -ce and -ac (dissertation), Freie Universität Berlin 1974.
• To each his own or not. Berlin 1978, New Paths Edition, ISBN 3-88348-018-5 .
• You come at seven. Berlin 1980, Oberbaumverlag, ISBN 3-87628-175-X . The German edition has an afterword and two graphics by Christoph Meckel .
• Niti ovdje - niti tamo. Croatian poems, Zagreb 1981, Znanje Zagreb.
• Why I liked the German language . In: A not only German literature: To determine the position of the "foreigner's literature". Edited by Irmgard Ackermann and Harald Weinrich , Munich 1986, Piper Verlag, pp. 47-50, ISBN 3-492-00889-5 .
• Martha's Kimono - Short Stories. Worms 1992, World of Books, ISBN 3-88325-478-9 .
• A table is needed! - Trebamo proud! Bilingual German-Croatian (translator: Srećko Lipovčan ), Zagreb 1997, Erasmus Verlag, ISBN 953-6132-41-9 .
• In front of my door - illustrated poems. Berlin 2016, worttransport.de Verlag, ISBN 978-3-944324-35-7 .
• For each other - illustrated poems. Berlin 2016, worttransport.de Verlag, ISBN 978-3-944324-36-4 .
• The fact is - poems to rock. Berlin 2016, worttransport.de Verlag, ISBN 978-3-944324-42-5 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Zvonko Plepelić in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Obituary notice
2. ^ Anne Strodtmann: One country, three languages, three scripts. In: Der Tagesspiegel. April 30, 2002, accessed February 8, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Neda Miranda Blažević: NeoNTINTE . Mariannenpresse, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-922510-64-7 .
4. ^ Carmine Gino Chiellino: Intercultural Literature in Germany. A manual . JB Metzler Verlag, Stuttgart / Weimar 2007, ISBN 978-3-476-02185-4 , p. 460 .
5. ↑ Friedrich Schorlemmer: Risking Peace. Thanks for the 1993 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. Accessed February 8, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Britta Gansebohm: Zvonko Plepelić reads from his book “Fakt ist - Gedichte zum Schunkeln” (worttransport Verlag, 2016) (book premiere - reading with conversation). In: The literary salon. Salonkultur.de, October 7, 2016, accessed on September 20, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Irene Bazinger: Coffee table with a crank. In: Berliner Zeitung. March 26, 1999, accessed February 7, 2018 .