Martin Kačur

The Biography of an Idealist

Ivan Cankar, John K. Cox

• Publisher: Central European University Press
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9789639776418
• eBook ISBN: 9786155211652
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

The novel Martin Ka?ur, 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 Ka?ur 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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• title page
• copyright page
• Contents
• Translator’s Preface
• Reading Ivan Cankar - Socialism, Nationalism, Esthetics, and religion after one hundred years - Introduction
• Part I - Chapter One
• Part I - Chapter Two
• Part I - Chapter Three
• Part II - Chapter One
• Part II - Chapter Two
• Part II - Chapter Three
• Part III - Chapter One
• Part III - Chapter Two
• Part III - Chapter Three