Milan Rúfus

photo of Milan Rúfus by Peter Stanley Prochazka

photo by Peter Stanley Procházka

Milan Rúfus (1928-2009) was a Slovak poet, essayist, translator, children’s author, and academic. His poetry leans toward a symbolist and post-symbolist lyricism and is tinged with tragedy, echoed by the elegiac tone of his verse. Starting with his first collection Až dozrieme (When We Mature), Rúfus published twenty books of poetry between 1956-2008. He passively opposed the Communist regime by raising the themes of human values, God, Christian morality, human destiny, and of homeland as a space for man’s creativity, labour, and victory over a bitter fate, becoming a kind of national conscience for Slovakia and its people. The most translated Slovak poet into other languages, Rúfus also translated poetry from the Russian, Czech, and Spanish. He was the recipient of countless literary prizes.

Available in English

front cover of To Bear the Burden and Sing

To Bear the Burden

and Sing

translated by

John Minahane

front cover of Milan Rufus - And That’s the Truth

And That’s the Truth

translated by

Ewald Osers, Viera and

James Sutherland-Smith

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