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Justice and Redemption

Anthropological Realities and Literary Visions by Ivan Cankar

by Irena Avsenik Nabergoj (Author)
©2015 Monographs 353 Pages

Summary

The book shows Ivan Cankar (1876–1918) as the first Slovenian writer to examine the human conscience, justice, guilt and punishment in a way comparable to Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and influenced also by the Bible. Given Cankar’s own bitter childhood experience of poverty and his awareness of the ceaseless injustice which rules the world, he has compassion for the wrongdoings carried out by people from lower social realms, especially children, and is all the more critical towards higher classes who cause their suffering. In his last book, Dream Visions, he reveals his experience of the First World War. He encompasses feelings of fear and anguish before death and surpasses them with the faith in redemption of all suffering people.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the book
  • Preface and Acknowledgements
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Table of Contents
  • Abbreviations of Cankar’s Edited Works
  • Works of Ivan Cankar Discussed
  • Introduction
  • 1) Social, Political and Literary Events at the Turn of the 19th Century in Europe
  • 2) The Development of Literary, Artistic, Intellectual and Cultural Streams in Slovenia and the Important Role of Ivan Cankar
  • 3) Ivan Cankar and European Literature
  • 4) The Intellectual-Historical, Aesthetic and Personal Values in Ivan Cankar’s Literature
  • 1. The Experience of Sin, Guilt, Punishment and Forgiveness in Ivan Cankar
  • 1.1 Cankar’s Dialogue within the Central European Literary-Cultural Realm
  • 1.2 Expressiveness and Symbolism in Cankar’s Literature of the Vienna Period
  • 1.3 Guilt and Remorse in Cankar’s Confessions of Love for His Mother
  • 1.4 Longing and Guilt in Cankar’s Experiencing of Love towards a Woman
  • 1.5 Guilt, Punishment and Forgiveness in Cankar’s Relationship to His Fellow Man and Society
  • 1.6 Guilt, Punishment and Forgiveness in Relationship to God in Cankar’s Literature
  • 2. Expressions of Longing for Eternal Life and Beauty in Cankar’s Works
  • 3. The Question of Religiosity in Ivan Cankar’s Writings
  • 3.1 The Question of Religiosity in Cankar’s Letters to His Brother Karlo Cankar (Priest)
  • 3.2 The Question of Religiosity in Cankar’s Memorial Article on the Slovenian Poet Dragotin Kette
  • 4. Humility and Guilt in the Sacred Poetry of Cankar’s Youth
  • 5. Religious Elements in Cankar’s Youth Confessions
  • 6. Mystical Elements in the Novel On the Hill (1902)
  • 7. Longing for Justice, and the Question of Forgiveness in Cankar’s play The King of Betajnova (1902); Parallels with Shakespeare, Tolstoy and Ibsen
  • 7.1 Longing for Justice in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Parallels with Cankar’s The King of Betajnova
  • 7.1.1 Hamlet’s and Maks’s Relationship to the World and to People
  • 7.1.2 Uncovering Crime, and the Workings of Conscience in Hamlet and The King of Betajnova
  • 7.1.3 The Theme of Love in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Cankar’s The King of Betajnova
  • 7.1.4 Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Cankar’s Maks in a Passionate Search for Truth, and the Motif of the Punishment through Conscience
  • 7.2 Guilt, Remorse and Forgiveness in Tolstoy’s Play The Power of Darkness and Cankar’s The King of Betajnova
  • 7.3 Crime and the Question of Repentance in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment (1866) and in Cankar’s The King of Betajnova
  • 7.4 Guilt, Repentance and the Discovery of Truth in Ibsen’s Plays The Pillars of Society (1877) and The Wild Duck (1884), and in Cankar’s The King of Betajnova
  • 7.5 A Synthetic Comparison of Selected Works from the Perspective of Good and Evil
  • 8. Religious Elements in the Novel The Cross on the Hill (1904)
  • 9. “Dead Homes” and Longing for Salvation: The Suffering and Death of Innocent Girls as Salvation from the Evils of the World in Works by Cankar, Dostoyevsky and Hauptmann
  • 9.1 The Girls' Longing for Death and for Heaven as Salvation from the Physical, from Sin and from Evil in Cankar’s The Ward of Our Lady of Mercy (1904)
  • 9.1.1 The Contrast between the Sullied Life “Outside” and the Pure Life “Inside” the Hospital
  • 9.1.2 The Symbolism of Angels and Premonitions of the Hereafter
  • 9.1.3 The Sick Girls' Flight from Tainted People and Desecrated Gifts; Their Longing for a More Beautiful Life
  • 9.1.4 The Dying Girls' Tranquil Journey from the Valley of “Night and Suffering” to “Light and Love”
  • 9.2 The Value of Suffering, the Death of the Girl Nellie in Dostoyevsky’s Novel The Insulted and Injured (1861)
  • 9.2.1 Violence and Sexual Molestation of the Illegitimate Child Nellie, and Nellie’s Longing for Redemption
  • 9.2.2 The Romantic Idealism of the “Insulted and Injured” - The Main Characters in the Novel
  • 9.2.3 The Significance of Forgiveness in The Insulted and Injured
  • 9.2.4 The Theme of Dying and the Death of Nellie and a Comparison with Cankar’s Novel
  • 9.3 The Suffering and Death of an Illegitimate Child in Hauptmann’s Dream Poem Hannele
  • 9.3.1 Violence against the Fourteen-Year-Old Hannele, and Her Desperate Suicide Attempt
  • 9.3.2 Hannele’s Fear of Her Violent Father; Her Longing for Heaven and for Her Deceased Mother
  • 9.3.3 Hannele’s Death, Her Prayers to Jesus and Her Contact with Angels
  • 9.3.4 Death Beatifies Hannele and Elevates Her Body
  • 9.3.5 Hannele’s Death and Its Effect on Her Violent Father: Suicide
  • 9.3.6 “The Stranger” Has Mercy on Hannele’s Soul and the “Dust and Pain,” and Raises Her “Above the Stars of God”
  • 9.4 A Comparison of Selected Works by Cankar, Dostoyevsky and Hauptmann
  • 10. Searching for a “God of Justice” in the Novel The Bailiff Yerney and His Rights (1907)
  • 10.1 Yerney’s Faith in a Just God: Parallels with Old Testament Psalms
  • 10.2 Yerney’s Revenge: A comparison with the Tale of David and Abigail (1 Sam 25)
  • 11. Confessional Elements in Cankar’s Novel New Life (1908)
  • 12. Religious Thought and Emotional Elements in Poetry Written between 1908 and 1909
  • 13. An Impenitent Sinner’s Confession in the Sketch “Idyll at the Spring” (1909)
  • 14. Searching for God of Justice and Redemption in the Collection Behind the Cross (1909)
  • 14.1 Suffering, the Consequences of a Judgement and Redemption in the Sketch “Behind the Cross”
  • 14.2 The Suffering of the Illegitimate Child and His Vision of Heaven in the Novella “Jure”
  • 14.3 A Brother and Sister’s Longing and a Drunken Widower in the Novella “The Altar Boy Jokec”
  • 14.4 Guilt and Conscience in the Novella “Pavliček’s Crown”
  • 14.5 The Suffering and Despair of the Hunchback in “The Hunchback Martinec”
  • 14.6 Crime and Punishment in the Novella “Damjan the Smith”
  • 14.7 Admiration for the Criminal in Cankar and Dostoyevsky
  • 14.8 The Revenge of People from “Underground”
  • 14.9 A Child’s Revenge in the Sketch “Zdenko Petersilka”
  • 14.10 Suffering and Death in Foreign LandsAbbreviations of Cankar’s Edited Works
  • 15. The Power of Longing in the Short Prose of the Ljubljana Period (1909–1918)Works of Ivan Cankar Discussed
  • 15.1 On Childhood Experiencing of Religious HolidaysIntroduction
  • 15.2 Confessions about the Causes of Distancing Himself from Godth Century in Europe
  • 16. Faith and Doubt in the Mother Sketches from the Ljubljana Period (1909–1918)
  • 16.1 The Mother’s Faith and Recommending Prayer in the Sketch “The Walk to School”
  • 16.2 Prayer in the Cycle “At the Holy Grave”
  • 17. Renouncing God in the Autobiographical Narrative My Life (1914; 1920)The Experience of Sin, Guilt, Punishment and Forgiveness in Ivan Cankar
  • 17.1 Reality and Fiction in Autobiography of Ivan Cankar and of His Literary Predecessors and Contemporaries
  • 17.2 Reality and Fiction in Autobiography of Augustine, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • 17.3 Reality and the Fiction in the Autobiographies My Life by Janez Trdina and by Ivan Cankar
  • 18. Admission of a Childhood Theft in the Autobiographical Tale The Sinner Lenart (1913/1914; 1921)
  • 18.1 Delinquents' Conscience in Cankar and Dostoyevsky
  • 19. The Experience of War and the Call to Purify One’s Heart in Dream Visions (1917)
  • 19.1 Repenting on Account of Individualism and Confession of Love for OthersExpressions of Longing for Eternal Life and Beauty in Cankar’s Works
  • 19.2 The Image of Hell and the Last JudgementThe Question of Religiosity in Ivan Cankar’s Writings
  • 19.3 Admission of Sinfulness
  • 19.4 Figures of Death and a Premonition of Heaven
  • 19.5 Longing for Resurrection and Redemption in Cankar’s Dream VisionsHumility and Guilt in the Sacred Poetry of Cankar’s Youth
  • 20. The Role of Conscience in Cankar’s LiteratureReligious Elements in Cankar’s Youth Confessions
  • 20.1 Meanings of Sin and Guilt in Cankar’s LiteratureMystical Elements in the Novel On the Hill (1902)
  • 20.2 Between External and Internal Punishment for InjusticeLonging for Justice, and the Question of Forgiveness in Cankar’s play The King of Betajnova (1902); Parallels with Shakespeare, Tolstoy and Ibsen
  • 20.3 Revenge and Forgiveness in Cankar’s LiteratureHamlet and Parallels with Cankar’s The King of Betajnova
  • 20.4 The Promise of Redemption and Triumph of Justice
  • Conclusion
  • Summary
  • Povzetek
  • Bibliography
  • Index and Description of Pictures
  • Index of Subjects
  • Index of Names and Authors

← 16 | 17 → Abbreviations of Cankar’s Edited Works

ID

Izbrana dela v desetih zvezkih [Selected Works in Ten Books]. Selected works of Ivan Cankar, edited and annotated by Boris Merhar, notes compiled also by France Dobrovoljc. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, 1951–1959.

ZD

Zbrano delo [Collected Works], 1–30. Collected works of Ivan Cankar, edited by Anton Ocvirk, notes compiled by France Bernik, Janko Kos, Dušan Moravec, Jože Munda and Dušan Voglar. Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, 1967–1976.

ZS

Zbrani spisi [Collected Writings], 1–21. Collected writings of Ivan Cankar, edited and annotated by Izidor Cankar; volume 20 by France Koblar; volume 21 by France Dobrovoljc. Ljubljana: Nova založba, 1925–1936; volume 21 Maribor: Obzorja, 1954.

← 17 | 18 → Works of Ivan Cankar Discussed1

Title in English

Original title

Literary Source/Reference

POETRY COLLECTIONS AND CYCLES

Erotica
(Poetry Collection, 1899, 1902)

Erotica
(pesniska zbirka, 1899, 1902)

Cankar, ZD 1, 7-116;, ZD 2, 7-98

Helena
(Poetry Cycle)

Helena
(cikel pesmi)

Cankar, ZD 1, ZD 2

Sonnets
(Epilogue in Kurent);
Cycle of three Sonnets

soneti
(epilog h Kurentu); cikel treh sonetov

Cankar, ZD 1, 146-148; ZD 18, 109-111

“It Happened Yesterday”

“Zgodilo se je vceraj”

Cankar, ZD 1, 146; ZD 18, 109.

← 18 | 19 →

“May it Last Forever”

“Na vekomaj ostane”

Cankar, ZD 1, 147; ZD 18, 110.

“Light Is and God Is”

“Luc je in Bog je”

Cankar, ZD 1, 148; ZD 18, 111.

“From Beautiful Times”
(Poetry Cycle)

Iz lepih casov
(cikel pesmi)

Cankar, ZD 1, 29-52; ZD 2, 23-45

POEMS

“Epilogue and Consecration”

“Epilog in posvecenje”

Cankar, ZD 1, 145; ZD 17, 315

“It Happened Yesterday”

“Zgodilo se je vceraj”

Cankar, ZD 1, 146; ZD 18, 109

“May it Last Forever”

“Na vekomaj ostane”

Cankar, ZD I, 147; ZD 18, 110

“Light is and God Is”

“Luc je in Bog je”

Cankar, ZD 1, 148; ZD 18, 111

“Name-Day”

“V god” / “Za god”

Cankar, ZD 2, 155

← 19 | 20 → MAJOR NARRATIVE WORKS:
NOVELS, COLLECTIONS OF NOVELLAS, SKETCHES AND STORIES, ETC

The Bailiff Yerney and His Rights

Hlapec Jernej in njegova pravica

ZD 16, 5-72

Behind the Cross

Za krizem

Cankar, ZD 17, 115-315

A Book for the Lighthearted

Knjiga za lahkomiselne ljudi

Cankar, ZD 8, 91-350

The Cross on the Hill

Križ na gori

Cankar, ZD 7, 101-235

Dream Visions

Podobe iz sanj

Cankar, ZD 23, 5-120

The Death and Burial of Jakob Nesreca

Smrt in pogreb Jakoba Nesrece

Cankar, ZD 14, 153-198

Foreigners

Tujci

Cankar, ZD 9, 5-142

At the Holy Grave
(cycle)

Ob svetem grobu
(cikel)

Cankar, ZD 21, 233-281

Martin Kacur

Martin Kacur

Cankar, ZD 14, 5-152

Kurent

Kurent

Cankar, ZD 18, 49-111

My Life
(cycle)

Moje življenje
(cikel)

Cankar, ZD 22, 5-52

My Plot of Land
(collection)

Moja njiva (zbirka)

Cankar, ZD 21, 5-281

New Life

Novo življenje

Cankar, ZD 17, 5-111

On the Hill

Na klancu

Cankar, ZD 10, 5-192

Passing by Life
(collection)

Mimo zivljenja
(zbirka)

Cankar, ZD 11, 101-282

POEMS

The Sinner Lenart

Grešnik Lenart

Cankar, ZD 22, 53-137

NOVELS, COLLECTIONS OF NOVELLAS, SKETCHES AND STORIES, ETC

Vignettes
(collection)

Vinjete
(zbirka)

Cankar, ZD 7, 5-198

The Ward of Our Lady of Mercy

Hiša Marije Pomocnice

Cankar, ZD 11, 5-100

DRAMA

Fair Vida

Lepa Vida

Cankar, ZD 5, 67-110

Farmhands

Hlapci

Cankar, ZD 5, 5-65

For the People's Good

Za narodov blagor

Cankar, ZD 3, 153-246

Scandal in St. Florian's Valley

Pohujšanje v dolini sentflorjanski

Cankar, ZD 4, 67-121

The King of Betajnova

Kralj na Betajnovi

Cankar, ZD 4, 5-66

← 21 | 22 → ← 20 | 21 → LITERARY SKETCHES, STORIES, NOVELLAS, ESSAYS, AND ARTICLES

“The Altar Boy Jokec”

“Ministrant Jokec”

Cankar, ZD 17, 143-193

“At Home”

“Doma”

Cankar, ZD 6, 165-166

“At the Deathbed”

“Ob smrtni postelji”

Cankar, ZD 6, 242-263

“At the Sea”

“Ob morju”

Cankar, ZD 6, 366-368

“The Beehive”

“O cebelnjaku”

Cankar, ZD 7, 105-121

“A Black Easter Egg”

“Crni piruh”

Cankar, ZD 23, 138-140

“A Blade of Grass”

“Bilka v viharju”

Cankar, ZD 23, 148-151

“Burial Mound”

“Gomila”

Cankar, ZD 6, 239-241

“The Captain”

“Gospod stotnik”

Cankar, ZD 15, 38-45

“A Chestnut of a Special Kind”

“Kostanj posebne vrste”

Cankar, ZD 23, 55-57

“Children and Old Folks”

“Otroci in starci”

Cankar, ZD 23, 21-24

“A Cup of Coffee”

“Skodelica kave”

Cankar, ZD 21, 262-265

“Damjan the Smith”

“Kovac Damjan”

Cankar, ZD 17, 283-314

“The End”

“Konec”

Cankar, ZD 23, 118-120

“The Field”

“Njiva”

Cankar, ZD 6, 278-283

LITERARY SKETCHES, STORIES, NOVELLAS, ESSAYS, AND ARTICLES

“Foreign Learning”

“Tuja ucenost”

Cankar, ZD 21, 258-261

“From the Outskirts”

“Iz predmestja”

Cankar, ZD 8, 135-149

“The Furlough”

“Urlavb”

Cankar, ZD 18, 124-127

“The Ghost”

“Strah”

Cankar, ZD 23, 25-28

“Greetings!”

“Pozdravljeni!”

Cankar, ZD 17, 257-261

“Happiness”

“Sreca”

Cankar, ZD 6, 157-164

“Her Image”

“Njena podoba”

Cankar, ZD 21, 235-238

“His Mother”

“Njegova mati”

Details

Pages
353
Year
2015
ISBN (PDF)
9783653039566
ISBN (ePUB)
9783653993974
ISBN (MOBI)
9783653993967
ISBN (Hardcover)
9783631646182
DOI
10.3726/978-3-653-03956-6
Language
English
Publication date
2014 (November)
Keywords
Literary critique Ivan Cankar Social injustice Human conscience Anguish
Published
Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien, 2014. 353 pp., 21 b/w fig.

Biographical notes

Irena Avsenik Nabergoj (Author)

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