Josip Jurčič

Josip Jurčič

Josip Jurčič (born March 4, 1844 in Muljava , Lower Carniola ; † May 3, 1881 in Ljubljana , Duchy of Carniola, Cisleithanien ) was a Slovenian writer and journalist.

Live and act

Jurčič came from a very humble background. He attended the elementary school in Višnja Gora and in 1857 was able to transfer to the grammar school in Ljubljana. In 1865 he reached his Matura and went to Vienna to be there from 1866 a. a. To study classical philology .

Without any support, he had to drop out of his studies without a degree. When the more politically oriented newspaper “Slovenski Narod” (The Slovene Nation) was founded in Maribor in the spring of 1868 , Jurčič got a job as a journalist and auxiliary editor.

When Josip Stritar founded the literary magazine “Zvon” (The Bell) in Vienna in 1870 , he brought Jurčič - they had met during his studies - into his editorial office. In December 1870 the publication “Der Glocke” was discontinued and did not appear again until 1876.

In 1870/71 Jurčič settled in Sisak ( Croatia ) and was entrusted with the editing of the "Südslavische Zeitung". When on the occasion of the death of editor-in-chief Anton Tomšić (1842–1871) on May 27, 1871 the editorial staff was restructured, Jurčič moved back to Maribor and took over the editing of the "Slovenski Narod". In mid-October 1872 he moved his office to Ljubljana, where this magazine existed until 1945.

During his life Jurćić was of a rather sickly nature and in 1879 he was diagnosed with pulmonary consumption. On May 3, 1881, he died of this disease in Ljubljana and found his final resting place there.

reception

His first contact with Slovenian literature came from the works of Fran Levstik . Not only in a purely literary way, but also in the sense of an awakening Slovenian nationalism, Jurćič collected inspiration for his stories in the history of Slovenia. According to his own admission, it was above all Valvasor's Die Ehre des Hertzogthums Crain that gave him new ideas.

His novel Deseti brat , published in 1861, is considered the first modern Slovenian novel.

In 1863 the Catholic Book Association of St. Hermagoras organized a competition to find the best story from Slovenian history. Jurćić received the first prize, endowed with 100 guilders , for his story Georg Kozjak , in which he referred to the biography of Ludwig von Kosiack .

When the Sittich ( Cistercian ) monastery celebrated its 800th birthday in 1936 , the story Georg Kozjak - which is considered his magnum opus - was translated into French. On the occasion of their review, the French historian Georges Goyau (1869–1939) noted :

“When a work of historical reawakening brings a moment of the past to life in its entirety, when it erects before us the two powers that fought on the borders of Europe for the soul of the Middle Ages, and when it finally puts one of those monasteries in an honorable light on the fringes of the Balkans were messengers of occidental would-be, then it can rightly be said that such a work has such great literary importance that it should be accessible to readers of all countries and all languages. "

- Georges Goyau : Revue des Deux Mondes

Honors

• A memorial was dedicated to him in Maribor.
• Between Muljava and Višnja Gora, the Jurčič path (18 km) was established in his memory .
• The house where he was born was declared a museum.

Works (selection)

• Pripovedka or beli kaći . 1861.
• Spomini na deda . 1863.
• Yuri Kozjak. Slovenski janičar . 1864.
• Deseti brat . 1866.
• Veronika Deseniška . 1881.
• Kozlovska sodba v Višnji Gori . 1867.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ today part of Ivančna Gorica ( Slovenia )
2. ↑ Johann Weichard von Valvasor: The honor of the Hertzogthums Crain: that is, true, thorough and very real evidence and quality of this Roman-Keyserlichen marvelous hereditary land . Ljubljana 1669.
3. ↑ Named after St. Hermagoras († around 304).

Web links

• Josip Jurčič at Findagrave.com