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.
Martin Kacur Cankar, Ivan; Cox, John K
03/2009
eBook
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 TWO Ivan Cankar
Martin Kačur,
03/2009
Book Chapter
Kačur was sitting in the dismal tavern; his face was pale, crestfallen, and aging fast. The innkeeper wobbled about on drunken legs, screaming as he slammed his fist on the table.
“Such a thing will ...not happen in my house! My house is an honorable home! I’ll drag that slut into the street by her hair, and that damned gigolo along with her!”
The innkeeper’s chubby wife was standing in the doorway. Her hands were resting on her hips.
“Why are you screaming at him? He already told you what he intends to do. Leave him alone already!”
The publican
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 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
