Colloquies, Soliloquies

Dr. Boris Paternu once wrote, “beside the gift of the word” the writer Ciril Kosmač “also carried the gift of silence inside him.” Born in 1910 in the village Slap ob Idrijci, Colloquies, Soliloquies marks the first centenary of his birth. In his works he spoke with deep empathy about his places and his people, about the people from the Primorska region, their love for their land and their mother tongue, their distress and hope in different historic circumstances; his heroes are often little people, village codgers and eccentrics with big hearts and impossible, albeit small wishes; the author always finds compassion and warmth for them. Kosmač’s writing is characterised by stylistic mastery, his particular kind of humour and the total command over the auditory nuances of the language and the rhythmical characteristics of the sentence; unfortunately, he never wrote for theatre, but his work continues to inspire theatre artists – the stage in Nova Gorica has so far seen his Ballad of a Trumpet and a Cloud and That Fine Day.