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Irena AVSENIK NABERGOJ • JUSTICE AND REDEMPTION 11 Table of Contents Preface and Acknowledgements 7 Abbreviations of Cankar’s Edited Works 17 Works of Ivan Cankar Discussed 18 Introduction 23 1) Social, Political and Literary Events at the Turn of the 19th Century in Europe 24 2) Th e Development of Literary, Artistic, Intellectual and Cultural Streams in Slovenia and the Important Role of Ivan Cankar 25 3) Ivan Cankar and European Literature 27 4) Th e Intellectual-Historical, Aesthetic and Personal Values in Ivan Cankar’s Literature 30 1. Th e Experience of Sin, Guilt, Punishment and Forgiveness in Ivan Cankar 34 1.1 Cankar’s Dialogue within the Central European Literary-Cultural Realm 35 1.2 Expressiveness and Symbolism in Cankar’s Literature of the Vienna Period 39 1.3 Guilt and Remorse in Cankar’s Confessions of Love for His Mother 42 1.4 Longing and Guilt in Cankar’s Experiencing of Love towards a Woman 44 1.5 Guilt, Punishment and Forgiveness in Cankar’s Relationship to His Fellow Man and Society 47 1.6 Guilt, Punishment and Forgiveness in Relationship to God in Cankar’s Literature 49 2. Expressions of Longing for Eternal Life and Beauty in Cankar’s Works 57 3. Th e Question of Religiosity in Ivan Cankar’s Writings 63 3.1 Th e Question of Religiosity in Cankar’s Letters to His Brother Karlo Cankar (Priest) 63 3.2 Th e Question of Religiosity in Cankar’s Memorial Article on the Slovenian Poet Dragotin Kette 80 jjusticeustice aandnd rredemption_kor9.inddedemption_kor9.indd 1111 224.8.20144.8.2014 222:59:362:59:36 12 Irena AVSENIK NABERGOJ • JUSTICE AND REDEMPTION 4. Humility and Guilt in the Sacred Poetry of Cankar’s Youth 84 5. Religious Elements in Cankar’s Youth Confessions 89 6. Mystical Elements in the Novel On the Hill (1902) 92 7. Longing for Justice, and the Question of Forgiveness in Cankar’s play Th e King of Betajnova (1902); Parallels with Shakespeare, Tolstoy and Ibsen 95 7.1 Longing for Justice in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Parallels with Cankar’s Th e King of Betajnova 97 7.1.1 Hamlet’s and Maks’s Relationship to the World and to People 99 7.1.2 Uncovering Crime, and the Workings of Conscience in Hamlet and Th e King of Betajnova 102 7.1.3 Th e Th eme of Love in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Cankar’s Th e King of Betajnova 105 7.1.4 Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Cankar’s Maks in a Passionate Search for Truth, and the Motif of the Punishment through Conscience 110 7.2 Guilt, Remorse and Forgiveness in Tolstoy’s Play Th e Power of Darkness and Cankar’s Th e King of Betajnova 113 7.3 Crime and the Question of Repentance in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment (1866) and in Cankar’s Th e King of Betajnova 118 7.4 Guilt, Repentance and the Discovery of Truth in Ibsen’s Plays Th e Pillars of Society (1877) and Th e Wild Duck (1884), and in Cankar’s Th e King of Betajnova 123 7.5 A Synthetic Comparison of Selected Works from the Perspective of Good and Evil 127 8. Religious Elements in the Novel Th e Cross on the Hill (1904) 130 9. “Dead Homes” and Longing for Salvation: Th e Suff ering and Death of Innocent Girls as Salvation from the Evils of the World in Works by Cankar, Dostoyevsky and Hauptmann 133 9.1 Th e Girls’ Longing for Death and for Heaven as Salvation from the Physical, from Sin and from Evil in Cankar’s Th e Ward of Our Lady of Mercy (1904) 133 jjusticeustice aandnd rredemption_kor9.inddedemption_kor9.indd 1212 224.8.20144.8.2014 222:59:362:59:36 Table of Contents 13 9.1.1 Th e Contrast between the Sullied Life “Outside” and the Pure Life “Inside” the Hospital 135 9.1.2 Th e Symbolism of Angels and Premonitions of the Hereaft er 136 9.1.3 Th e Sick Girls’ Flight from Tainted People and Desecrated Gift s; Th eir Longing for a More Beautiful Life 139 9.1.4 Th e Dying Girls’ Tranquil Journey from the Valley of “Night and Suff ering” to “Light and Love” 144 9.2 Th e Value of Suff ering, the Death of the Girl Nellie in Dostoyevsky’s Novel Th e Insulted and Injured (1861) 148 9.2.1 Violence and Sexual Molestation of the Illegitimate Child Nellie, and Nellie’s Longing for Redemption 150 9.2.2 Th e Romantic Idealism of the “Insulted and Injured” – Th e Main Characters in the Novel 153 9.2.3 Th e Signifi cance of Forgiveness in Th e Insulted and Injured 156 9.2.4 Th e Th eme of Dying and the Death of Nellie and a Comparison with Cankar’s Novel 160 9.3 Th e Suff ering and Death of an Illegitimate Child in Hauptmann’s Dream Poem Hannele 162 9.3.1 Violence against the Fourteen-Year-Old Hannele, and Her Desperate Suicide Attempt 162 9.3.2 Hannele’s Fear of Her Violent Father; Her Longing for Heaven and for Her Deceased Mother 163 9.3.3 Hannele’s Death, Her Prayers to Jesus and Her Contact with Angels 167 9.3.4 Death Beatifi es Hannele and Elevates Her Body 170 9.3.5 Hannele’s Death and Its Eff ect on Her Violent Father: Suicide 171 9.3.6 “Th e Stranger” Has Mercy on Hannele’s Soul and the “Dust and Pain,” and Raises Her “Above the Stars of God” 172 9.4 A Comparison of Selected Works by Cankar, Dostoyevsky and Hauptmann 173 jjusticeustice aandnd rredemption_kor9.inddedemption_kor9.indd 1133 224.8.20144.8.2014 222:59:362:59:36 14 Irena AVSENIK NABERGOJ • JUSTICE AND REDEMPTION 10. Searching for a “God of Justice” in the Novel Th e Bailiff Yerney and His Rights (1907) 175 10.1 Yerney’s Faith in a Just God: Parallels with Old Testament Psalms 180 10.2 Yerney’s Revenge: A comparison with the Tale of David and Abigail (1 Sam 25) 185 11. Confessional Elements in Cankar’s Novel New Life (1908) 190 12. Religious Th ought and Emotional Elements in Poetry Written between 1908 and 1909 193 13. An Impenitent Sinner’s Confession in the Sketch “Idyll at the Spring” (1909) 202 14. Searching for God of Justice and Redemption in the Collection Behind the Cross (1909) 204 14.1 Suff ering, the Consequences of a Judgement and Redemption in the Sketch “Behind the Cross” 204 14.2 Th e Suff ering of the Illegitimate Child and His Vision of Heaven in the Novella “Jure” 208 14.3 A Brother and Sister’s Longing and a Drunken Widower in the Novella “Th e Altar Boy Jokec” 211 14.4 Guilt and Conscience in the Novella “Pavliček’s Crown” 214 14.5 Th e Suff ering and Despair of the Hunchback in “Th e Hunchback Martinec” 217 14.6 Crime and Punishment in the Novella “Damjan the Smith” 219 14.7 Admiration for the Criminal in Cankar and Dostoyevsky 225 14.8 Th e Revenge of People from “Underground” 225 14.9 A Child’s Revenge in the Sketch “Zdenko Petersilka” 229 14.10 Suff ering and Death in Foreign Lands 231 15. Th e Power of Longing in the Short Prose of the Ljubljana Period (1909–1918) 236 15.1 On Childhood Experiencing of Religious Holidays 237 15.2 Confessions about the Causes of Distancing Himself from God 239 jjusticeustice aandnd rredemption_kor9.inddedemption_kor9.indd 1414 224.8.20144.8.2014 222:59:362:59:36 Table of Contents 15 16. Faith and Doubt in the Mother Sketches from the Ljubljana Period (1909–1918) 242 16.1 Th e Mother’s Faith and Recommending Prayer in the Sketch “Th e Walk to School” 242 16.2 Prayer in the Cycle “At the Holy Grave” 246 17. Renouncing God in the Autobiographical Narrative My Life (1914; 1920) 250 17.1 Reality and Fiction in Autobiography of Ivan Cankar and of His Literary Predecessors and Contemporaries 256 17.2 Reality and Fiction in Autobiography of Augustine, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 259 17.3 Reality and the Fiction in the Autobiographies My Life by Janez Trdina and by Ivan Cankar 263 18. Admission of a Childhood Th eft in the Autobiographical Tale Th e Sinner Lenart (1913/1914; 1921) 271 18.1 Delinquents’ Conscience in Cankar and Dostoyevsky 273 19. Th e Experience of War and the Call to Purify One’s Heart in Dream Visions (1917) 280 19.1 Repenting on Account of Individualism and Confession of Love for Others 282 19.2 Th e Image of Hell and the Last Judgement 285 19.3 Admission of Sinfulness 287 19.4 Figures of Death and a Premonition of Heaven 291 19.5 Longing for Resurrection and Redemption in Cankar’s Dream Visions 294 20. Th e Role of Conscience in Cankar’s Literature 301 20.1 Meanings of Sin and Guilt in Cankar’s Literature 302 20.2 Between External and Internal Punishment for Injustice 303 20.3 Revenge and Forgiveness in Cankar’s Literature 307 20.4 Th e Promise of Redemption and Triumph of Justice 309 jjusticeustice aandnd rredemption_kor9.inddedemption_kor9.indd 1155 224.8.20144.8.2014 222:59:362:59:36 16 Irena AVSENIK NABERGOJ • JUSTICE AND REDEMPTION Conclusion 311 Summary 315 Povzetek 319 Bibliography 322 Index and Description of Pictures 331 Index of Subjects 336 Index of Names and Authors 351 jjusticeustice aandnd rredemption_kor9.inddedemption_kor9.indd 1616 224.8.20144.8.2014 222:59:362:59:36.