Martin Kačur Cankar, Ivan; Cox, John K
03/2009
eBook
The novel Martin Kačur, which dates from 1907, tells the engrossing story of a young schoolteacher who moves from one provincial Slovene town to the next, trying to enlighten his countrymen and ...countrywomen but instead receiving only the mistrust and scorn of the traditional-minded and petty population. The novel is ruthless in its analysis and self-analysis of the failure of this abstract idealist.
The novel Martin Kacur, which dates from 1907, tells the engrossing story of a young schoolteacher who moves from one provincial Slovene town to the next, trying to enlighten his countrymen and ...countrywomen but instead receiving only the mistrust and scorn of the traditional-minded and petty population. The novel is ruthless in its analysis and self-analysis of the failure of this abstract idealist.Brilliant descriptions of Slovenia's natural beauty alternate with the haze of alcoholic despair, rural violence, marital alienation, and the death of a young and beloved child. The Slovene prose writer, poet, and dramatist Cankar's characterizations of duplicitous political and religious leaders (the village priest, the mayor, other teachers, doctors, etc.) and the treacherous social scene are remarkable in their engaging clarity. No doubt the raw emotional impact of Martin Kacur derives partly from Cankar's portrayal of the way society isolates people, denying them sympathy and solidarity. Cankar's style here owes a debt both to naturalism and to symbolism and contains, in its sometimes frantic pace and associative interior monologues, hints of early expressionism.
Title: Slovenci inJugoslovani (The Slovenes and the Yugoslavs) Originally published: a lecture at the social-democratic society Vzajemnost, 12 April, 1913, published in the social democrat’bulletin, ...Zarja, 15–17 April, 1913 Language: SloveneThe excerpts used are from Ivan Cankar, Izbrana dela (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1973), pp. 314–326. About the author Ivan Cankar 1876, Vrhnika (Ger. Laibach Altober, present-day Slovenia) -1918, Ljubljana (Ger. Laibach): story writer, playwright, poet...
CHAPTER ONE Ivan Cankar
Martin Kačur,
03/2009
Book Chapter
Fortunately for Martin Kačur, and to the benefit of the moral state and sense of unity of the Slovene nation, Blatni Dol’s teacher of many years died in February, and Kačur moved there bag and ...baggage.
The village was long and spread out, but it was dark and dirty to a degree that Kačur had never before witnessed. In the streets of Blatni Dol, the mud¹ overflowed into broad lakes, even when the sun was already shining on the rest of the world. The village lay in a deep depression, guarded on all sides by hills overgrown with low scrub
CHAPTER ONE Ivan Cankar
Martin Kačur,
03/2009
Book Chapter
Mudstained and damp with dew, Martin Kačur walked into the small restaurant attached to the post courier’s station.
“Does the coach to Zapolje leave soon?”
“Yes, soon! In half an hour,” answered the ...sleepyeyed tavern-keeper.
Kačur took a seat at the table and ordered brandy and bread. He tossed the large bundle from his thick staff onto the bench.
His ruddy, robust face brimmed with the freshness of an autumn morning, as did his moist, merry eyes. He already had a lengthy pilgrimage behind him, two tough hours; and a whiff of pungent fog and black dawn still clung to