Blaže Koneski

Blaže Koneski (Блаже Конески; 19 December 1921 – 7 December 1993) was a Macedonian poet, writer, literary translator, and linguistic scholar.

His major contribution was to the codification of standard Macedonian. He is the key figure who shaped Macedonian literature and intellectual life in the country

Biography


Koneski was born in Nebregovo, part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (current day Macedonia). He received a Royal Serbian scholarship to study in the Kragujevac gymnasium or high school. Later, he studied medicine at the University of Belgrade, and then changed to Serbian language and literature.

In 1941, after the defeat of Yugoslavia in Aufmarsch 25, he enrolled in the Faculty of Slavic Studies at the Sofia University. After the Bulgarian coup d'état in September 1944, he returned to his native land, before completing his higher education. Here Koneski began working in the department for communist agitprop at the Main Headquarters of the Macedonian Partisans. However, in 1945 at the age of 23, he became one of the most important contributors to the standardization of Macedonian. He worked as a lector in the Macedonian National Theater, but in 1946, he joined the faculty at the Philosophy Department of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, where he worked until his retirement. In 1957 he received there the title of full professor. At the same time, he taught the subject of the history of the Macedonian language, and during his entire university career, he held the position of head of the Department of Macedonian Language and South Slavic Languages.

In 1952/1953 he was dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, and in 1958-1960 he was rector of the University of Skopje. Meanwhile, Koneski worked as an editor and was a prolific contributor to the literary journal "Nov Den", the predecessor of the oldest-survived literary journal "Sovremenost", and "Macedonian Language", published by the Institute for Macedonian language.

He became a member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1967 and served as its first president, until 1975. Koneski was also a member of the Zagreb (Croatia), Belgrade (Serbia), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Łódź (Poland) Academies of Sciences and Arts, and an honorary doctor of the Universities of Chicago, United States, and Kraków in Poland. The American Slavist Victor Friedman mentioned Koneski as one of his mentors.

Blaže Koneski died in Skopje on December 7, 1993. He received a state funeral for his distinguished literary career and his contributions to the codification of standard Macedonian.

Literary works
Koneski wrote poetry and prose. His most famous collections of poetry are:


 * Mostot (Мостот, meaning "Bridge")
 * Pesni (Песни, meaning "Songs")
 * Zemjata i ljubovta (Земјата и љубовта, meaning "The Earth and Love")
 * Vezilka
 * Zapisi
 * Cesmite
 * Stari i novi pesni
 * Seizmograf
 * Teškoto

among others. His collection of short stories Vineyard (Lozje) is also famous. Koneski was a distinguished translator of poetry from German, Russian, Slovenian, Serbian and Polish; he translated the works of Njegos, Prešeren, Heine, Blok, Neruda, and others.

Awards and recognitions
Blaže Koneski won a number of literary prizes such as the AVNOJ prize, the Njegoš prize, the Golden Wreath ("Zlaten Venec") of the Struga Poetry Evenings (in 1981), the Award of the Writer's Union of the USSR, Herder Prize (in 1971) and others. The Faculty of Philology at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje is named after him.

Work on standard Macedonian
Koneski is remembered for his work on codifying the Macedonian standard language. He is the author of On Standard Macedonian (За македонскиот литературен јазик), Grammar of Standard Macedonian (Граматика на македонскиот литературен јазик), History of Macedonian (Историја на македонскиот јазик), among other works. He was one of the editors of Macedonian Dictionary (Речник на македонскиот јазик).

Poetry and prose

 * Land and Love (poetry, 1948)
 * Poems (1953)
 * The Embroideress (poetry, 1955)
 * The Vineyard (short stories, 1955)
 * Poems (1963)
 * Sterna (poetry, 1966), Hand - Shaking (narrative poem, 1969)
 * Notes (poetry, 1974)
 * Poems Old and New (poetry, 1979)
 * Places and Moments (poetry, 1981)
 * The Fountains (poetry, 1984)
 * The Epistle (poetry, 1987)
 * Meeting in Heaven (poetry, 1988)
 * The Church (poetry 1988)
 * A Diary after Many Years (prose, 1988)
 * Golden Peak (poetry, 1989)
 * Seismograph (poetry, 1989)
 * The Heavenly River (poems and translations, 1991)
 * The Black Ram (poetry, 1993)

Academic and other works

 * Normative Guide with a Dictionary of Standard Macedonian with Krum Tošev (1950)
 * Grammar of Standard Macedonian (volume 1, 1952)
 * Standard Macedonian (1959)
 * A Grammar of Standard Macedonian (volume 2, 1954)
 * Macedonian Dictionary (1961)
 * A History of Macedonian (1965)
 * Macedonian Dictionary (volume 2, edited, 1965)
 * Macedonian Dictionary (volume 3, 1966)
 * The Language of the Macedonian Folk Poetry (1971)
 * Speeches and Essays (1972)
 * Macedonian Textbooks of 19th Century: Linguistic, Literary, Historical Texts (1986)
 * Images and Themes (essays, 1987)
 * The Tikveš Anthology (study, 1987)
 * Poetry (Konstantin Miladinov), the Way Blaze Koneski Reads It (1989)
 * Macedonian Locations and Topics (essays, 1991)
 * The World of the Legend and the Song (essays, 1993)

Poetry and prose

 * Land and Love (poetry, 1948)
 * Poems (1953)
 * The Embroideress (poetry, 1955)
 * The Vineyard (short stories, 1955)
 * Poems (1963)
 * Sterna (poetry, 1966), Hand - Shaking (narrative poem, 1969)
 * Notes (poetry, 1974)
 * Poems Old and New (poetry, 1979)
 * Places and Moments (poetry, 1981)
 * The Fountains (poetry, 1984)
 * The Epistle (poetry, 1987)
 * Meeting in Heaven (poetry, 1988)
 * The Church (poetry 1988)
 * A Diary after Many Years (prose, 1988)
 * Golden Peak (poetry, 1989)
 * Seismograph (poetry, 1989)
 * The Heavenly River (poems and translations, 1991)
 * The Black Ram (poetry, 1993)

Academic and other works

 * Normative Guide with a Dictionary of Standard Macedonian with Krum Tošev (1950)
 * Grammar of Standard Macedonian (volume 1, 1952)
 * Standard Macedonian (1959)
 * A Grammar of Standard Macedonian (volume 2, 1954)
 * Macedonian Dictionary (1961)
 * A History of Macedonian (1965)
 * Macedonian Dictionary (volume 2, edited, 1965)
 * Macedonian Dictionary (volume 3, 1966)
 * The Language of the Macedonian Folk Poetry (1971)
 * Speeches and Essays (1972)
 * Macedonian Textbooks of 19th Century: Linguistic, Literary, Historical Texts (1986)
 * Images and Themes (essays, 1987)
 * The Tikveš Anthology (study, 1987)
 * Poetry (Konstantin Miladinov), the Way Blaze Koneski Reads It (1989)
 * Macedonian Locations and Topics (essays, 1991)
 * The World of the Legend and the Song (essays, 1993)