Milko Valent

Valent has participated in the publication of visual and concrete poetry, and worked on e-poetry. He performs frequently, employing stage forms such as recitals, lectures, happenings and provocative talks. His works are included in many prose and poetry anthologies and have been translated into Slovenian, Hungarian, Macedonian, Russian, Italian, German, and Esperanto. His radio plays, Ink In the Eye, Valentine Neon Tips, Robert Is Dead, and theatre plays, Ground Zero Alexandra, Naked Europe and Wild Apples Bordello are also available in English.

His prolific writing career notwithstanding, Valent is an exception in contemporary Croatian literature. Raised in a working class family, he was a factory worker before he enrolled in philosophy courses. Immediately after graduation, he decided to devote his full time and energy to literature. In the mid-1970s, that was a very daring move because it was virtually impossible to survive solely from the sporadic fees received for different texts and occasional plays. Nevertheless, Valent stuck to his initial decision, earning his modest income mainly from the literary readings he delivered across the country. In time, he developed a recognizable style in which he mixed beatnik poetics and a corresponding world-view with a harsh post-communist reality.

Themes such as provocation, the constant poking of petty-bourgeois tastes, and a breaching of the social norms and taboos are the trademarks of his writing. “My poetry has the effect of a placebo,” wrote Milko Valent. “Poetry cannot save us or make things better, but it could help us to see a brighter side of life and live it fully until the unavoidable end, to experience its controversial fullness of here and now in a Zen way.”

In a review of Valent’ s book of poetry Vjecni jazz (Eternal Jazz), Branko Cegec, poet and critic, said that it is actually “an essay in verses”, and as such, presents one of the first Croatian attempts to describe “postmodern conservatives”. “Sexual revolution, feminism, out of the closet homosexuality, and an exhibitionistic style were some of the recent past’s names for a much desired individual liberty in the recent past,” stated Cegec. “And today, we surrender ourselves to virtual colonialism, happy to be slaves of totalitarian information.” Cegec continues, “it is a situation in which everything is seemingly at hand, and at the same time light years removed from real individuality, personal integrity, from the artistic and intellectual shaping of the world.” Poems
{id="1955" title="1. Summer Exercise for a Bird"}
{id="1957" title="2. Sweet Thirst Or Slaves Of Freedom"}
{id="1959" title="3. The Voice Of Demigods"}
{id="1961" title="4. Soup Kitchen"}
{id="1963" title="5. The Sky Loves You Silently"}
{id="1965" title="6. Sentimental Voice of the Prophet"}
{id="1967" title="7. Cabriolet No. 13"}


Bibliography
Poetry
Leptiri arhetipa (Butterflies of the Archetype). Mladost, Zagreb 1980.
Zadimljena lopta (Smoked Ball). ICRevija, Osijek 1981Koan, ICR, Rijeka 1984.
Slatki automati (Sweet Automatons). ICRevija, Osijek 1990.
Plava krv (Blue Blood). Naklada MD, Zagreb 1997.
Jazz, afrička vuna (Jazz, African Wool). Naklada MD, Zagreb 2001.
Demonstracije u jezgri – izabrane pjesme (Core Demonstrations – Selected Poems). Stajer Graf, Zagreb, 2004.

Fiction and Nonfiction
Carpe Diem (philosophy essays). CKD, Zagreb 1979.
Gorki deserti (Bitter Desserts; short stories). Globus, Zagreb 1984.
Klaun (The Clown; novel). ICR, Rijeka 1988.
Totalni spol (Total Sex; theory of language/feminism/polemics). Mladost, Zagreb 1989.
Eurokaz – uzareni suncostaj (Eurokaz – Burning Solstice; theatre criticism). Naklada MD, Zagreb 2002.
Bubnjevi i čipke – dramski tekstovi (Drums and Laces; collection of plays). Areagrafika, Zagreb 2000.