Aljaž Koprivnikar (1987) is a poet and a literary critic, who is geographically spread among several European capitals (Ljubljana, Prague, Berlin and Lisbon). He works extensively as an organizer of literary events and festivals, is an editor of different anthologies and a visiting professor of literature at Faculdade de Letras in Lisbon. His poetry was published in Slovenian and in international magazines, his poetic debut Ανατομία was published by the Greek publishing house Vakxikon in 2019 and in the same year as well in Slovenian, by the Slovene publishing house Center za slovensko književnost.

The author's physical fragmentation across different European countries is the starting point for the poetry book Anatomy. The places, cities and landscapes outlined in the collection are not merely geographical concepts, but intertwined points of identification for the poetic subject. Inventories of the author's intimate experience and personal search for his own identity through poetry becomes a universal human experience, in which the poet proves to be a skilful weaver of complex life stories and intimate encounters, all through the prism of modern historical reality, the uncertain and whirlwind times of neoliberal Europe at the end of second decade of the 21st century.

Koprivnikar's poetry motive basis lays in intimism, existentialism - on the one hand it is imbued with sensual vitality, on the other hand it is significantly marked by the passing, the outflow of time in given spatial frameworks. His poetic subject is, on the one hand, eternally in motion, surrendering to the sounds, colours and environment that surround him, is lost in dizzying chaos, longing for duality, and on the other hand, is striving for a melancholy stay on the spot, for silence and solitude. The theme of distances and inner tension, anxious feelings of alienation in interpersonal relationships, among other things, is effectively articulated in the cycle Anatomy of Duality, where the key point lays in a connection to the chaos of the world, as the complex emotional world of the subject is a reflection of his (also biological) past (Anatomy of family, Anatomy of memory) and life in modern times, with all the advantages and disadvantages it brings. Engagement is most pronounced in the cycle Anatomy of migrations, where the subject's intimate involvement (as a seeker of his own identity and affiliation) in tragic world facts (themes of refuge, homelessness, wars, borders, international politics, etc.) is at its peak, but without moralistic undertones. Through his own sensitive poetic language, the poet defends the universality of the human within the cultural-linguistic differences between European nations (which is also illustrated by passages in Czech, Portuguese, German and Greek language) and seeks common ground between them. With important theme of universality, the narrow-mindedness, suffocation and provinciality of the Slovenian space, where "everything we hate / is what we long for" acquires grotesque dimensions. Namely, the poet also tackles the topic of common literary scenery in a satirical manner in the cycle Anatomy of Poetics, where he sharply points to the mechanisms and problematic practices that drive the mills of Slovene culture (both mainstream and alternative one), with which on a symbolic level he also distances himself from it.

Aljaž Koprivnikar (1987) je pesnik, literarni kritik in doktorski študent, ki je geografsko razpet med več evropskih prestolnic (Ljubljana, Praga, Berlin, Lizbona), saj ga je v ta mesta pripeljala akademska pot (doktorski študij trenutno nadaljuje na Karlovi univerzi v Pragi). Vsestransko deluje kot organizator literarnih dogodkov (aktivno sodeluje pri pripravi slovenskih dogodkov v tujini), organizator literarnih festivalov in simpozijev (mednarodni literarni festival Microfestival ter kritiški simpozij Umetnost kritike), urednik (v Berlinu pripravlja Antologijo mlade slovenske literature) in gostujoči profesor literature na Faculdade de Letras v Lizboni. Njegova poezija se objavlja in prevaja v domačih ter mednarodnih revijah, pesniški prvenec Ανατομία pa je letos izšel pri grški založbi Vakxikon.

Avtorjeva fizična razdrobljenost po različnih evropskih državah predstavlja izhodiščno pozicijo za Anatomijo. Kraji, mesta in pokrajine, ki so v zbirki orisani, niso zgolj geografski pojmi, temveč med sabo prepletene točke identifikacije za pesniški subjekt. Popisi avtorjevega intimnega doživljanja in osebno iskanje lastne identitete postanejo skozi poezijo univerzalna človeška izkušnja, v kateri se pesnik izkaže kot spreten tkalec kompleksnih življenjskih zgodb ter intimnih srečanj, vse to skozi prizmo sodobne zgodovinske realnosti, negotovega in vihravega časa neoliberalne Evrope ob koncu druge dekade 21. stoletja.

Koprivnikarjeva poezija je v svoji motivni osnovi intimistična, eksistencialistična – po eni strani je prežeta s čutnim vitalizmom, po drugi jo bistveno zaznamuje minevanje, odtekanje časa v danih prostorskih okvirih. Njegov pesniški subjekt je po eni strani večno v gibanju, predaja se zvokom, barvam in okolici, ki ga obdaja, izgublja se v vrtoglavem kaosu, hrepeni po dvojini, po drugi strani pa teži k melanholičnemu obstanku na licu mesta, k molku, tišini, samoti. Temo razdalj in notranje razpetosti, tesnobnih občutkov odtujenosti in oddaljenosti v medčloveških odnosih, med drugim učinkovito ubesedi v ciklu Anatomija dvojine (V grobni globini nikoli nisi / docela prispel v moje roke, / ker živimo v kaosu in si želimo samote), ključna pri tem pa je povezava s kaosom sveta, saj je kompleksni čustveni svet subjekta odsev njegove (tudi biološke) preteklosti (Anatomija družine, Anatomija spomina) in življenja v modernem času, z vsemi prednostmi in slabostmi, ki jih ta prinaša. Angažiranost pride najbolj do izraza v ciklu Anatomija migracij, kjer je intimna vpetost subjekta (kot iskalca lastne identitete in pripadnosti) v tragična svetovna dejstva (teme begunstva, brezdomstva, vojn, mej, mednarodne politike itd.) na višku, vendar brez moralističnih podtonov. Pesnik skozi lastno senzibilno pesniško govorico zagovarja univerzalnost človeškega znotraj kulturno-jezikovnih razlik med evropskimi narodi (kar ponazarjajo tudi pasaže v češkem, portugalskem, nemškem in grškem jeziku) in išče stičišča med njimi. S to pomembno temo univerzalnosti dobi zaplankanost, zatohlost in provincialnost slovenskega prostora, kjer je »vse kar sovražimo / tisto po čemer hrepenimo«, groteskne razsežnosti. Pesnik se namreč teme pritlehnega literarnega scenaštva pri nas loti v satirični maniri v ciklu Anatomija poetike, kjer z ostro kritičnostjo in z zvrhano dozo posmehljivosti pokaže na mehanizme ter problematične prakse, ki poganjajo mline slovenske kulture (tako mainstream kot tudi alternative), s tem pa se od nje na simbolični ravni tudi distancira.

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