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
Underneath a set of gentle, wave-like hills clad in a growth of bushes and small trees, and laced with long clearings, a large village unfolded. The settlement, Lazi, lay spread over bottomland, ...hilltops, and slopes. By a stream in the green valley, the tall, white houses pressed closely against each other. But the higher the roads led, and the more they snaked around, the more the huts and cottages avoided each other and the lower and more modest their shapes became.
A cumbersome wagon rocked slowly along the main road. There was only a tired-looking nag hitched to it, and
CHAPTER TWO Ivan Cankar
Martin Kačur,
03/2009
Book Chapter
It was on a Sunday morning, deep in November, that Martin Kačur made the pilgrimage from Zapolje to Bistra. The sky was low and gray, and mists lay on the plains, creeping softly and lazily over the ...marsh. The road was furrowed and muddy. The houses along the way gaped morosely; they were slovenly and sooty.
But Martin Kačur saw neither the gray sky, nor the fog, nor the sooty houses; inside he was all happiness and sunshine.
This was the period of his life when he was strong and free like never before.
He went to Bistra, to the
CHAPTER THREE Ivan Cankar
Martin Kačur,
03/2009
Book Chapter
Ferjan and Kačur were sitting in the conference room. Kačur cowered there with his hands upon his knees. His face looked old and clay-colored, and his blood-rimmed eyes were dull.
Ferjan, already ...rather corpulent, starting to gray, was visibly nervous and uncomfortable. He crumpled a piece of paper in his hand and stared at the table.
“We were once colleagues,” he said, taking a quick peek at Kačur’s profile next to him. “Colleagues and friends! By God, I did not violate this friendship, and whenever some stupidity got in the way, we took care of it as appropriate. But, look