Prežihov Voranc
Encyclopedia
Prežihov Voranc was the pen name of Lovro Kuhar, a Slovene writer
and Communist political activist
. Voranc's literary reputation was established during the 1930s with a series of Slovene novels and short stories in the social realist
style, notable for their depictions of poverty in rural and industrial areas of Slovenia
. His most important novels are Požganica (1939) and Doberdob (1940)
near Kotlje
, a Slovene-speaking village in Carinthia, then part of Austria-Hungary
. He was the son of tenant farmers who later acquired their own land. His younger brother, Alojzij Kuhar
, became a renowned liberal conservative politician and historian. His pen name is a typical folk formulation derived from the oeconym
of the farm the family lived on (the Prežih farm) plus the Carninthian dialect form of the name Lovrenc (or Lovro); thus, Prežihiov Voranc literally means 'Lovro from the Prežih farm'.
The steep mountain slopes of his homeland were hard to farm, and Voranc consistently returned to his childhood of drudgery and fortitude. He received little formal education beyond primary (elementary) school and later a course in co-operative management. He was, however, a man who wished to educate himself and for much of his life he self studied and read voraciously.
In 1909, Voranc's first published work appeared in the Slovene magazine Domači Prijatelj, edited by the writer Zofka Kveder
. It was the first of many short stories for the magazine usually depicting the lives of farm labourers and rural characters from his Carinthian homeland. Between 1911 and 1912, Voranc spent time in Trieste
where he became more political aware writing of the travails of social misfits and unemployed drifters for the Social-Democrat newspaper Zarja
, he was immediately drafted into the Austro-Hungarian Army
. He saw action and was captured in 1916 spending the remainder of the war in POW camps in Italy
. As a soldier he continued writing often about the psychology of soldiers in warfare drawing on his surroundings and depicting the lives of the soldiers that he knew and with whom he had fought.
. He became increasingly radicalized and a supporter of Carinthian political integration into the newly formed Yugoslav
state. He continued to write, and in 1925 he published his first short story Povesti. It was not especially well received by the intelligentsia in Ljubljana
; one review dismissed the work as by "talented proletarian, a self-taught writer." Nevertheless it contains "elements that were later to develop into his highly acclaimed style"
In 1930 his political activism and Communist sympathies resulted in a threat of arrest and Voranc absented himself from Carinthia and moved to Vienna
and from there, Prague
in 1931 and hence to Berlin
in 1932. What appears to have been a period of instability in his life was also a period of active collaboration with other socialists in Europe and during the early thirties he also visited Romania
, Bulgaria
, Greece
, Norway
, and France
. He edited the magazine Delo in Vienna from 1932 to 1934 but fell foul of the Austria
n authorities, who imprisoned him in 1937. In the years immediately before the Second World War Voranc was working in Paris
as a librarian mixing with other political emigres.
, called Sodobnost
, propagating socialist views. Voranc' themes of social realism quickly found favor with the new review's editors, Josip Vidmar
, Fran Albreht
and Ferdo Kozak
. The changing socio-economic conditions of the 1930s necessitated writers who could convey social realism, who could argue and inform and represent the lives of working class people . Voranc' contributions to Sodobnost established his literary reputation when he was already in his forties. His first story Boj na požiralniku ,(in 1982 made into a film of the same title) exhibits Voranc’s unique style: realistic events of Slovenian life are described within the context of an impressionistic landscape. The characters are as large as the landscape in which they live and their language in vernacular and realistic. The story focuses on a downtrodden family who are in part despised by their better off neighbors , one of whom describes then as ‘polecats’. The family exists on the margins of Slovenian society , toiling the land in an endless fight for survival which some of them fail to achieve. Voranc depicts death and children fighting to survive into adulthood. Boj na požiralniku caused a literary sensation and five more stories followed in the years 1935 to 39 which were later collected together as Samorastniki. All deal with peasants lives in the Carinthian mountains, a region that had rarely featured in Slovene literature. The characters speak in the vernacular of the region, they are possessed of a resilient fortitude against the strife of their lives and whilst they are often overly superstitious, egotistical and obdurate Voranc also records them as: faithful, brave, honest and possessing of a religious faith that is true and sincere.
In 1939, Sodobnost published a collection of Prežihov Voranc's works under the title Samorastiki. It included Ljubenzen na odoru (Passion Above the Precipice) and Vodnjak (The Self-Sown), available in English translations. Voranc left Paris and returned swiftly to Slovenia upon the outbreak of war living in Ljubljana and then in Mokronog
. Upon his return he worked on an unfinished novel Požganica that had been started whilst he was in prison in Vienna.The novel set against the background of the end of the Great War is one of his most politically dogmatic and according to one critic 'marred by some overly naturalistic scenes, by over simplification of some characters and by political preaching' .
near the village of Doberdò del Lago
during the First World War, In fact Voranc subtitles the novel as "The War Novel of the Slovenian People". The third version is mostly a string of anecdotes and meditations on the lives of the Slovenes. It is a fiercely nationalistic novel surrounding the Battle of Doberdò
. Doberdò has became the central symbolic place of the Slovene victims of World War I in part to Voranc's novel. His third novel Jamnica is set in a rural Carinthian village between the two wars at a period when the values of rural society are being challenged by increasing industrialization. It remained unpublished until 1946.
, Nazi Germany occupied northern Slovenia, while Ljubljana and Mokronog were occupied by the Italian troops (and then in 1943 by the Germans). Voranc feared for his life and left Slovenia once again for the Croatian capital Zagreb
and then into the Bosnian countryside. However he seems to have had a change of heart and decided to return to Ljubljana for the duration of the occupation. He did not join the resistance movement but on September 11 he met clandestinely with other writers to proclaim the 'Cultural Silence' which self prohibited publication, exhibitions and performances by Slovene artists for the duration of the occupation.
As a suspected communist sympathizer Voranc was arrested in January 1943 and transported to the Sachsenhausen
and Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
s. He returned to Ljubljana at the end of the war sick and depressed and unable to communicate with his family and comrades. He returned to his native village in Carinthia where he ceased political activity and removed himself from the political actualities of the newly formed communist Yugoslavia. He worked on 'Solzice', an historical novel but it remained unfinished at the time of his death in Maribor in 1950.
His experiences during World War I undeniably left a deep impression on his psyche. The reality of war on the mind is explored especially in his novel Doberdob. Voranc wished to convey to his reader the realism of the situation in which his characters live and there is little that is sentimental about his depictions.Voranc preferred to write of the impoverished peasant and industrial working class against the impressionistic backdrop of a land that sometimes colludes against the peasant.His socialist leanings are the key to understanding his later work.During the 1930s whilst living away from his homeland he became more aware of the international socialism although he adapted the realism in his work to suit Slovene sensibilities.
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and Communist political activist
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
. Voranc's literary reputation was established during the 1930s with a series of Slovene novels and short stories in the social realist
Social realism
Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic...
style, notable for their depictions of poverty in rural and industrial areas of Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
. His most important novels are Požganica (1939) and Doberdob (1940)
Formative years
Prežihov Voranc was born as Lovro Kuhar in PodgoraPodgora, Ravne na Koroškem
Podgora is a dispersed settlement in the hills to the south of Kotlje in the Ravne na Koroškem Municipality in the Carinthia region in northern Slovenia....
near Kotlje
Kotlje
Kotlje is a village in the hills to the south of Ravne na Koroškem in the Carinthia region in northern Slovenia.The Parish Church in the village is dedicated to Saint Margaret and belongs to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Maribor...
, a Slovene-speaking village in Carinthia, then part of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. He was the son of tenant farmers who later acquired their own land. His younger brother, Alojzij Kuhar
Alojzij Kuhar
Alojzij Kuhar was a Slovenian and Yugoslav politician, diplomat, historian and journalist. Together with Izidor Cankar and Franc Snoj, he was an important exponent of the liberal conservative fraction of the Slovene People's Party.-Biography:Kuhar was born into a Carinthian Slovene family in...
, became a renowned liberal conservative politician and historian. His pen name is a typical folk formulation derived from the oeconym
-onym
The suffix onym, in English and other languages, means "word, name," and words ending in onym refer to a specified kind of name or word, most of which are classical compounds. For example, an acronym is a word formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts...
of the farm the family lived on (the Prežih farm) plus the Carninthian dialect form of the name Lovrenc (or Lovro); thus, Prežihiov Voranc literally means 'Lovro from the Prežih farm'.
The steep mountain slopes of his homeland were hard to farm, and Voranc consistently returned to his childhood of drudgery and fortitude. He received little formal education beyond primary (elementary) school and later a course in co-operative management. He was, however, a man who wished to educate himself and for much of his life he self studied and read voraciously.
In 1909, Voranc's first published work appeared in the Slovene magazine Domači Prijatelj, edited by the writer Zofka Kveder
Zofka Kveder
Zofka Kveder was writer, playwright, translator and journalist who wrote in Slovene and later in life also in Croatian. She is considered one of the first Slovene women writers and feminists...
. It was the first of many short stories for the magazine usually depicting the lives of farm labourers and rural characters from his Carinthian homeland. Between 1911 and 1912, Voranc spent time in Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
where he became more political aware writing of the travails of social misfits and unemployed drifters for the Social-Democrat newspaper Zarja
- REDIRECT /li>
- REDIRECT Target page name
Service in World War One
At the outbreak of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he was immediately drafted into the Austro-Hungarian Army
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...
. He saw action and was captured in 1916 spending the remainder of the war in POW camps in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. As a soldier he continued writing often about the psychology of soldiers in warfare drawing on his surroundings and depicting the lives of the soldiers that he knew and with whom he had fought.
Political activism
Voranc was released in 1919 and returned to a Carinthia that was in political and cultural ferment. He took a job in the offices of a workers' co-operative at the steelworks in GuštajnRavne na Koroškem
Ravne na Koroškem is a town and a municipality in northern Slovenia. Until 1918, the town was part of the Duchy of Carinthia. It is the largest town in the traditional Slovenian province of Carinthia and its capital. Its Slovene name means 'Ravne in Carinthia', in order to distinguish it from...
. He became increasingly radicalized and a supporter of Carinthian political integration into the newly formed Yugoslav
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
state. He continued to write, and in 1925 he published his first short story Povesti. It was not especially well received by the intelligentsia in Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
; one review dismissed the work as by "talented proletarian, a self-taught writer." Nevertheless it contains "elements that were later to develop into his highly acclaimed style"
In 1930 his political activism and Communist sympathies resulted in a threat of arrest and Voranc absented himself from Carinthia and moved to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and from there, Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
in 1931 and hence to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in 1932. What appears to have been a period of instability in his life was also a period of active collaboration with other socialists in Europe and during the early thirties he also visited Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He edited the magazine Delo in Vienna from 1932 to 1934 but fell foul of the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n authorities, who imprisoned him in 1937. In the years immediately before the Second World War Voranc was working in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
as a librarian mixing with other political emigres.
Sodobnost
In 1933, a new left wing literary review was founded in SloveniaSlovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, called Sodobnost
Sodobnost
Sodobnost is a Slovenian literary and cultural magazine, established in 1933. It is considered the oldest of currently existing literary magazines in Slovenia. Although Sodobnost has traditionally been a magazine focused on cultural and literary issues, it nowadays covers a wide range of current...
, propagating socialist views. Voranc' themes of social realism quickly found favor with the new review's editors, Josip Vidmar
Josip Vidmar
Josip Vidmar was a prominent Slovenian literary critic and essayist. Vidmar is remembered because of his role in the Slovenian resistance during World War II, and for his influence in the cultural policies of the Titoist regime in Slovenia from the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s.He was born in...
, Fran Albreht
Fran Albreht
Fran Albreht was a Slovenian poet, editor, politician and partisan. He also published under the pseudonym Rusmir....
and Ferdo Kozak
Ferdo Kozak
Ferdo Kozak was a Slovenian author, playwright, editor and politician.He was born as Ferdinand Kozak in an upper middle class family in Ljubljana, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire...
. The changing socio-economic conditions of the 1930s necessitated writers who could convey social realism, who could argue and inform and represent the lives of working class people . Voranc' contributions to Sodobnost established his literary reputation when he was already in his forties. His first story Boj na požiralniku ,(in 1982 made into a film of the same title) exhibits Voranc’s unique style: realistic events of Slovenian life are described within the context of an impressionistic landscape. The characters are as large as the landscape in which they live and their language in vernacular and realistic. The story focuses on a downtrodden family who are in part despised by their better off neighbors , one of whom describes then as ‘polecats’. The family exists on the margins of Slovenian society , toiling the land in an endless fight for survival which some of them fail to achieve. Voranc depicts death and children fighting to survive into adulthood. Boj na požiralniku caused a literary sensation and five more stories followed in the years 1935 to 39 which were later collected together as Samorastniki. All deal with peasants lives in the Carinthian mountains, a region that had rarely featured in Slovene literature. The characters speak in the vernacular of the region, they are possessed of a resilient fortitude against the strife of their lives and whilst they are often overly superstitious, egotistical and obdurate Voranc also records them as: faithful, brave, honest and possessing of a religious faith that is true and sincere.
In 1939, Sodobnost published a collection of Prežihov Voranc's works under the title Samorastiki. It included Ljubenzen na odoru (Passion Above the Precipice) and Vodnjak (The Self-Sown), available in English translations. Voranc left Paris and returned swiftly to Slovenia upon the outbreak of war living in Ljubljana and then in Mokronog
Mokronog
Mokronog is a settlement in the Municipality of Mokronog-Trebelno in southeastern Slovenia. It is also the administrative centre of the municipality. The area is part of the historical region of Lower Carniola...
. Upon his return he worked on an unfinished novel Požganica that had been started whilst he was in prison in Vienna.The novel set against the background of the end of the Great War is one of his most politically dogmatic and according to one critic 'marred by some overly naturalistic scenes, by over simplification of some characters and by political preaching' .
Later Novels
His novel Doberdob which was published in 1941 had already had a checkered past with the first two manuscripts seized or stolen.The title of the book referred to Doberdob, slovenskih fantov grob ("Doberdò, the grave of Slovene lads"), a lament to the Slovene dead of the Battle of DoberdòBattle of Doberdò
The Battle of Doberdò was one of the bloodiest battlefields of World War I, fought in August 1916 between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian Army, composed mostly of Hungarian and Slovenian regiments....
near the village of Doberdò del Lago
Doberdò del Lago
Doberdò del Lago is a comune in the Province of Gorizia in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 30 km northwest of Trieste and about 11 km southwest of Gorizia...
during the First World War, In fact Voranc subtitles the novel as "The War Novel of the Slovenian People". The third version is mostly a string of anecdotes and meditations on the lives of the Slovenes. It is a fiercely nationalistic novel surrounding the Battle of Doberdò
Battle of Doberdò
The Battle of Doberdò was one of the bloodiest battlefields of World War I, fought in August 1916 between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian Army, composed mostly of Hungarian and Slovenian regiments....
. Doberdò has became the central symbolic place of the Slovene victims of World War I in part to Voranc's novel. His third novel Jamnica is set in a rural Carinthian village between the two wars at a period when the values of rural society are being challenged by increasing industrialization. It remained unpublished until 1946.
German Occupation and the Cultural Silence
In April 1941, following the invasion of YugoslaviaInvasion of Yugoslavia
The Invasion of Yugoslavia , also known as the April War , was the Axis Powers' attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II...
, Nazi Germany occupied northern Slovenia, while Ljubljana and Mokronog were occupied by the Italian troops (and then in 1943 by the Germans). Voranc feared for his life and left Slovenia once again for the Croatian capital Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
and then into the Bosnian countryside. However he seems to have had a change of heart and decided to return to Ljubljana for the duration of the occupation. He did not join the resistance movement but on September 11 he met clandestinely with other writers to proclaim the 'Cultural Silence' which self prohibited publication, exhibitions and performances by Slovene artists for the duration of the occupation.
As a suspected communist sympathizer Voranc was arrested in January 1943 and transported to the Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
and Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...
s. He returned to Ljubljana at the end of the war sick and depressed and unable to communicate with his family and comrades. He returned to his native village in Carinthia where he ceased political activity and removed himself from the political actualities of the newly formed communist Yugoslavia. He worked on 'Solzice', an historical novel but it remained unfinished at the time of his death in Maribor in 1950.
Themes in Voranc's writings
As a child and youth Voranc experienced first hand the back breaking drudgery of farming steep mountain slopes and the theme of the farmer fighting the unyielding soil is recurrent in much of his writing. The mountains of Carinthia and the working class people within them remained at the heart of Voranc's philosophical work. The beauty of the scenery is conveyed against the back drop of shared toil and camaraderie. Voranc was drawn to the unfortunate and unjustly treated people he witnessed.His experiences during World War I undeniably left a deep impression on his psyche. The reality of war on the mind is explored especially in his novel Doberdob. Voranc wished to convey to his reader the realism of the situation in which his characters live and there is little that is sentimental about his depictions.Voranc preferred to write of the impoverished peasant and industrial working class against the impressionistic backdrop of a land that sometimes colludes against the peasant.His socialist leanings are the key to understanding his later work.During the 1930s whilst living away from his homeland he became more aware of the international socialism although he adapted the realism in his work to suit Slovene sensibilities.
Selected bibliography (Slovene)
- Boj na požiralniku (1935),
- Požganica (1939), from a short story first published in 1920,
- Jamnica (1945)
- Doberdob (1940)
- Samorastniki (1940) consisting of a series of short stories that included:
- Boj na požiralniku
- Jirs in Bavh, Vodnjak
- Ljubezen na odoru
- Pot na klop
- Prvi spopad, Odpustki in Samorastniki
- Vodnjak
Selected bibliography (English)
- Prežihov Voranc, The Self-Sown, Bilingual edition of a Slovene classic, Prometej, New Orleans (1983)
- Prežihov Voranc, Two short stories, "The Self-Sown" and "Passion above the Precipice," translation and introduction by Irma Marija Ana Ožbalt, Slovene Writers Association (1994)