Alojz Rebula, an acclaimed fiction writer from Italy's Trieste, has received the Kresnik Award for best Slovenian novel of the year. Rebula was awarded for "Nocturne for Primorsko", a novel about a priest from the region of Primorsko set against the backdrop of Fascism.
Rebula, 81, received a EUR 5,000 check and a sculpture on Thursday evening from Darijan Kosir, the editor-in-chief of the daily Delo, which gives out the award. The 15th award winning ceremony took place at Roznik, a hill above Ljubljana.
Surprised to received the most prestigious award for Slovenian literature, Rebula, a member of the Slovenian minority, said the topic he is dealing with is not exactly what is currently popular in Slovenia or Europe.
The main character of the novel - published by Mohorjeva druzba Celje - is Slovenian priest Florijan, who remains a dedicated patriot also during the Fascist Italianization of Slovenians, but is executed after WWII.
According to the jury, the priest personifies the history of Primorsko, while the novel is actually a "literary monument to all the upright and brave people who persevered through the most difficult moments and despite casualties".
A Catholic writer, Rebula is considered to be one of the greatest living Slovenian authors. Despite being bilingual, he chose to write in Slovenian because he saw a small nation "the most suitable universe" to express the "pure human integrity free of all illusions of history".
In his numerous novels Rebula tries to overcome the personal and national anxieties and uncertainties. His stories focus on universal existential and spiritual problems, which however always involve Slovenians, chiefly members of the minority in Italy.
The laureate has been shortlisted for Kresnik three times in the 15-year history of the award. He also received the highest national award for arts and culture, the Preseren Award, in 1995.
The other Kresnik nominees were Evald Flisar with the novel "Caj s kraljico" (Tea With a Queen), Zeljko Kozinc with "Visoki tujec" (A Tall Stranger), Sebastijan Pregelj with "Leta mladosti" (The Years of Youth) and Jani Virk with "Aritmija" (Arrhythmia).
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