Daniel Day Škufca    

Wakefulness of a Winter Morning Alchemical Intergenerational Song

Year of writing: 2023
In the very beginning, once upon a time, there was a mystery. Silence? Happiness? Hope? It’s hard to say, but … soon after …
Total cast size: 11 (5 f, 5 m)

grown-ups

poetic drama
war and post-war years, trauma, childhood, violence, destiny, death, family, intergenerational saga

We follow brother Žaži and sister Lenka, caught in the story of a family they don’t really know but remember through premonitions. The text jumps between their childhood, when they grew up without a mother, and the present, when their father is at the maternity hospital with his new wife expecting the newest member of the family. The birth of a new soul is getting closer, and Žaži must get in touch with his sister, who hasn’t spoken to her father for several years and has fled abroad as a rebel to a war-torn country. Through poetic play and Old Slavic symbolism and rituals, the text searches for connections between the unspoken memories of ancestors and the helplessness that permeates the present. It wonders about the pain that is invisibly carried through time, imagination and delusion and about the love that is supposed to exist between those closest to us.

Translations

Jaka Andrej Vojevec

Wakefulness of a Winter Morning Alchemical Intergenerational Song

Language of translation: English

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Awards, nominations, shortlists and recommendations

Nominacija za nagrado Slavka Gruma

Besedilo Budnost zimskega jutra je kompleksna družinska saga, pravzaprav mitološka epopeja, v kateri spremljamo več generacij, zaznamovanih z neizprosno krutostjo zgodovine, ki postopoma pronica v intimne odnose in jih spreminja v surova medsebojna razmerja. Postavljeni smo v izrazito patriarhalen svet, pravzaprav v svet moškega nasilja, ki prevladuje tako v najmanjših družbenih celicah (v družini) kot v družbi na splošno. Družinsko dinamiko določa oblastna in avtoritarna figura starega očeta, družbeno pa vojna kot nenehno, permanentno zgodovinsko stanje. Na ta način avtor družinsko zgodbo umešča na širše družbeno ozadje, pri tem pa postopoma in počasi plasti epizode iz njenih različnih obdobij, polagoma plete niti različnih časov, ki se prelivajo drug v drugega, včasih pa potekajo celo istočasno. Tako se kaže, kako ena generacija odpira rane drugi, še več: kako s svojimi bolečinami, strahovi in travmami preteklost vztraja v sedanjosti, vendar pa se z rojstvom otroka ob koncu besedila morda rojeva tudi upanje po drugačni (boljši) prihodnosti. Besedilo odlikuje zlasti slog – zdi se, da se vpisuje v bogato tradicijo poetične drame – in vključevanje ljudskih motivov, s pomočjo katerih avtor razpira vprašanja tujosti med ljudmi. Poezija v prepletu z mitološkimi, ljudskimi, nemara celo kar pravljičnimi motivi tako razpira širok in bogat imaginarij, ki v čutno tkivo besedila učinkovito vpenja intenzivno občutje zime in hladu, ki v prevladujoči meri določa tudi odnose med ljudmi.

2024