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TEH NEKAJ BESED /
THESE FEW WORDS
The Anthological Selection of Slovenian Haiku
Edited by Marko Hudnik and Jože Volarič
INTRODUCTION
We wish to introduce the selection of haiku from the book with the meaningful
title Teh nekaj besed (TNB) - These Few Words, taken from
the poem by Octavio Paz:
The day opens its hand
Three clouds
and these few words
This book is an anthological selection of haiku from twelve numbers of
Slovenian haiku magazine Letni časi (Seasons), published
in the last three years. Letni časi (LČ) is the organ of the Haiku
Club of Slovenia (HCS), founded at the end of 1997. In these three
years the magazine published contributions (haiku, essays, haibuns) by
many Slovenian and foreign authors. 72 Slovenian and 36 foreign authors
are represented in TNB. However, it does not include all foreign correspondents.
The editorial concept of LČ is quite broad. Throughout these three years
we have been publishing excellent haiku, but also amateurish works. We
have been selective in special sections, however. Our breadth and tolerance
were also shown in view of different haiku varieties. As the editor, I
have always believed that the identity of western haiku will be formed
only in the course of time. The LČ has therefore been publishing traditional
haiku, following the Japanese pattern (with 5/7/5 syllables and the season
word), modern haiku of the American type and many other things, for example
senryu, poetic aphorisms in the haiku form etc. The same breadth is shown
in the book TNB: the president of HCS, mr. Jože Volarič has made a general
selection in which each of the club members is represented by a few examples
of haiku, while I as the editor of LČ, have added a separate, narrower
selection.
The book TNB was intended mainly for Slovenian readers, therefore it is
written completely in Slovenian. We want to present it to the international
public now, so the haiku are written in Slovenian and English. As our
wish is to introduce to the world the Slovenian haiku, we have not included
foreign authors whose works have also been published in LČ.
TNB could be considered as the first anthology of Slovenian haiku, but
we must not forget the fact that haiku was written in Slovenia even before
the foundation of HCS and its magazine, and is published outside the magazine
now, too. Especially important is the literary magazine Apokalipsa which
has a permanent haiku section and each year organizes an international
contest for the best haiku. Actually, the first selection of Slovenian
haiku was published in Apokalipsa in 1998. It is important to mention
that in Slovenia many acknowledged poets, besides writing "ordinary"
poetry, also write haiku (or poems similar to haiku) and publish them
in their collections of poems, sometimes also separately as collections
of haiku. Haiku, written by acknowledged authors are published in nearly
all Slovenian literary publications, also the most important ones.
Marko Hudnik
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