19th and early 20th centuries
The 19th century, the golden age of novels, provided the first Slovene example of this new literary form with
The Tenth Brother by Josip Jurčič (1844-1881). The model for this and for Jurčič's other tales was the English historical novel, adapted to the environment in which they were created: they were set in the time of Turkish raids, and dealt with imagined erotic passions in a province where the sharp division between estate owners and villagers forbade close links. Jurčič was also the first Slovene journalist who, together with Fran Levstik (1831-1887), created the basis of Slovene literary criticism. Janko Kersnik (1852-1897) and Ivan Tavčar (1851-1923) also created high-quality short stories and chronicles on Slovene rural life. Janez Trdina (1630-1905), long known only as a collector of popular pieces, was in reality a discerning observer and honest recorder of life in these parts. He finally obtained his rightful recognition after the publication of his diaries in the 1980s.
The age of Realism, which was marked by great novels from Slovenia, also found expression in poetry, including the works of Impressionists such as Josip Murn Aleksandrov (1879-1901), the Symbolist Oton Župančič (1878-1949) and later Expressionist Alojz Gradnik (1882-1962).
The generation of the so-called
Moderna, which appeared at the turn of the 20th century, was dubbed 'the damned poets movement', having its origins in European symbolism and decadence. Josip Murn Aleksandrov was a poet attached to the popular poetic tradition, which he reworked into sensitive modern poetic miniatures. During his short life, Dragotin Kette (1876-1899) wrote with more cheerfulness and energy than any previous Slovene poet.
The undisputed cultural and spiritual authorities of this period were Ivan Cankar (1876-1918) and Oton Župančič, who even exerted an influence on political life. Cankar wrote the stories Hlapec Jernej in njegova pravica ('Bailiff Yerney and His Rights', 1907), Hiša Marije pomočnice ('The Ward of Our Lady of Mercy', 1904) and Podobe iz sanj (‘Images from Dreams’, 1920) and the novels Martin Kačur (1906) and Novo življenje (‘New Life’, 1908), as well as Ibsenesque plays like Kralj na Betajnovi (‘The King of Betajnova’, 1902) about the disintegration of provincial values at a time of growing industrialisation and the advance of capital. Cankar was also an enthusiastic essayist and propagated the idea of a Yugoslav state.
Oton Župančič, whose explicitly modern approach to poetry and powerful personality made him the standard for other poets for years to come, also supported the national resistance.
