THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY IN THE LIGHT OF THE HOLY MOUNTAIN BY IVAN DZHEPAROSKI Cover Image

ДУХОВНОТО ПАТУВАЊЕ ВО ПОЕТСКАТА КНИГА СВЕТЛИНИТЕ НА СВЕТА ГОРА ОД ИВАН ЏЕПАРОСКИ
THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY IN THE LIGHT OF THE HOLY MOUNTAIN BY IVAN DZHEPAROSKI

Author(s): Vladimir Martinovski
Subject(s): Macedonian Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Институт за македонска литература
Keywords: Ivan Dzeparoski, Mount Athos; religion; sacred art; poetry; travelogue; odeoporic literature; spirituality; aesthetic

Summary/Abstract: Ever since its origin, poetry has been closely linked to the topos of the journey. Many poets have written their best verses, poems, books of poetry when embarking on a journey. Along these lines, the newest collection by Ivan Dzheparoski (1958), The Light of the Holy Mountain (2015), which received the “Miladinov Brothers” Award at the Struga Poetry Evenings Festival, represents a unique achievement both in terms of his poetic opus, as well within the paradigm of poetry-spiritual journey. This book represents a rare example of travel literature in contemporary poetry, not only in Macedonian poetry, but in the global context as well. All the poems have been born out of Dzheparoski’s five journeys to the Holy Mountain (Mount Athos) in the period between 2010 and 2015. Furthermore, The Light of the Holy Mountain is a unique phenomenon in Macedonian poetry, as a collection wholly dedicated to and inspired by a spiritual journey to Mount Athos. The book can be read as a poetic travelogue: the spiritual pilgrimage of the poet to all 20 Athonite monasteries (and a number of sketes) is shaped as a coherent poetic journey through the spiritual heights of the Holy Mountain. Throughout it all, Dzheparoski is masterfully subtle and precise in recognizing and recording with the passion of a chronicler the spiritual legacy left by the Macedonian monastic tradition at Mount Athos.

  • Issue Year: 2016
  • Issue No: 68
  • Page Range: 62-70
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: English, Macedonian