Organising a marathon reading of this epic, which consists of more than 40,000 lines of verse, also sounds like some kind of an excess. However, it did take place. This week the poet's colleagues as well as translators, publishers and actors have come together in Ljubljana's National Gallery and spent five hours reading verses from the trilogy: Zemljevidi domotožja (Maps of Homesickness; 2014), Čas očetov (Time of Fathers; 2015) in Bivališča duš (Dwellings of Souls; 2017).

The trilogy epic titled Vrata nepovrata is quite unique in the field of epic poetry, as it puts Slovenian poetry on a par with all great nations that boast a long and majestic history, argues the Goga Publishing House with great pride. The reading event was also meant as a tribute to the poet who had spent 20 years working on the epic and was performed by Veno Taufer, Lado Kralj, Jožica Avbelj, Aleš Berger, Milan Dekleva, Manca Košir, Marjan Strojan, Dušan Šarotar, Milena Blažič, Erica Johnson Debeljak (reading translations into English), Zdenko Čepič, Ivana Novak, Eva Vrbnjak, Janez Vrečko, Ivo Svetina, Simona Kopinšek, Miha Hočevar...

Merciless critic of filthy politics
The moderator of the epic's public reading – a marathon literary evening the lobby of the National Gallery, by the Fountain of Three Carniolan Rivers (also known as the Robba Fountain) – was Boris A. Novak himself, offering the visitors an explanation and commentary for nearly every poem being read or recited. For verses from the last book, the poet often resorted to present-day reality for explanation. In his poems (some of which he also read himself), Novak positions himself as a humanist, a merciless critic of social perversion and filthy politics.

Tadej Čater; translated by K. Z.