Anton Aškerc
Encyclopedia
Slovenian language
Slovene or Slovenian is a South Slavic language spoken by approximately 2.5 million speakers worldwide, the majority of whom live in Slovenia. It is the first language of about 1.85 million people and is one of the 23 official and working languages of the European Union...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and Roman Catholic priest, best known for his epic poems.
Aškerc was born into a peasant family near the town of Rimske Toplice in the Duchy of Styria
Duchy of Styria
The history of Styria concerns the region roughly corresponding to the modern Austrian state of Styria and the Slovene region of Styria from its settlement by Germans and Slavs in the Dark Ages until the present...
, then part of the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
(now in 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 exact birthplace is unknown because his family was on the move at the time of his birth. After graduating from high school in Celje he entered the Roman Catholic theological
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
in Maribor
Maribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....
. He was ordained a priest in 1880. The same year he published his first poem entitled Trije popotniki ("The Three Travelers") in the progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
literary magazine
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
Ljubljanski zvon
Ljubljanski zvon
Ljubljanski zvon was a journal published in Ljubljana in Slovene between 1881 and 1941. It was considered one of the most prestigious literary and cultural magazines in Slovenia.- Early period :...
.
He started his literary career by writing lyric poetry
Lyric poetry
Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...
, but after 1882 moved to more epic themes. His post-romantic
Post-romanticism
Post-romanticism or Postromanticism refers to a range of cultural products and attitudes emerging in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, after the period of Romanticism....
poems express his patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
, love
Love
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
and religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
doubt. The themes of his ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
es and romances
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
come from Slovene
History of Slovenia
The history of Slovenia chronicles the period of the Slovene territory from the 5th Century BC to the present times. In the Early Bronze Age, Proto-Illyrian tribes settled an area stretching from present-day Albania to the city of Trieste. The Holy Roman Empire controlled the land for nearly 1,000...
and Slavic history, the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, folk traditions as well as contemporary life. He became strongly influenced by literary realism
Literary realism
Literary realism most often refers to the trend, beginning with certain works of nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors in various countries, towards depictions of contemporary life and society "as they were." In the spirit of...
, writing some of his best known poems in this style, but never fully rejected post-romanticism
Post-romanticism
Post-romanticism or Postromanticism refers to a range of cultural products and attitudes emerging in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, after the period of Romanticism....
.
Aškerc published his poems in the journal Ljubljanski zvon under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Gorázd from 1881, but used his real name in his first poetry collection, Balade in romance ("Ballades and Romances") published in 1890. The collection was warmly accepted by the reading public and critics, but was criticized from the emerging Catholic political activists, such as the bishop Anton Mahnič
Anton Mahnič
Dr. Anton Mahnič, also spelled as Antun Mahnić in Croatian ortography , was a Slovene and Croatian Roman Catholic bishop, theologian and philosopher, founder and the main leader of the Croatian Catholic movement....
, who disapproved of Aškerc's national, freethinking and progressive social ideals. Aškerc took an early retirement from his priesthood service. Soon afterwards, he was appointed by Ivan Hribar
Ivan Hribar
Ivan Hribar was a Slovene and Yugoslav banker, politician, diplomat and journalist. At the turn of the century, he was one of the leaders of the National Progressive Party, and one of the most important figures of Slovene liberal nationalism...
, the liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
mayor of 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...
, as an chief archivist
Archivist
An archivist is a professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to information determined to have long-term value. The information maintained by an archivist can be any form of media...
of the Ljubljana City Archives, which he remained until his death.
During the last twenty years of his life, his relationship with the conservative Catholic clergy worsened, as did the quality of his literary work. He continued to enjoy full support from the liberal
Liberalism in Slovenia
This article gives an overview of liberalism in Slovenia. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ means a reference to another party in that scheme...
political establishment in Carniola
Carniola
Carniola was a historical region that comprised parts of what is now Slovenia. As part of Austria-Hungary, the region was a crown land officially known as the Duchy of Carniola until 1918. In 1849, the region was subdivided into Upper Carniola, Lower Carniola, and Inner Carniola...
, led by Ivan Tavčar
Ivan Tavcar
Ivan Tavčar was a Slovene and Yugoslav writer, lawyer, and politician.- Biography :Tavčar was born into a poor peasant family of Janez and Neža née Perko in the Carniolan village of Poljane near Škofja Loka in what was then the Austrian Empire and is now in Slovenia. It has never been entirely...
and Ivan Hribar
Ivan Hribar
Ivan Hribar was a Slovene and Yugoslav banker, politician, diplomat and journalist. At the turn of the century, he was one of the leaders of the National Progressive Party, and one of the most important figures of Slovene liberal nationalism...
. His friendship with the Swedish slavist and historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
Alfred Anton Jensen
Alfred Anton Jensen
Alfred Anton Jensen was a Swedish historian, slavist, writer, poet.Alfred Jensen was born in Hälsingtuna, Gävleborg County. Studied at the Uppsala University. From 1884 to 1887 worked for one of Sweden's largest newspapers — Göteborgs Handels-och Sjöfartstidning. Visited Germany, Serbia,...
opened him the doors to international recognition: his poems were published in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, Galicia, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Serbia
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia was created when Prince Milan Obrenović, ruler of the Principality of Serbia, was crowned King in 1882. The Principality of Serbia was ruled by the Karađorđevic dynasty from 1817 onwards . The Principality, suzerain to the Porte, had expelled all Ottoman troops by 1867, de...
, and in the Czech Lands
Czech lands
Czech lands is an auxiliary term used mainly to describe the combination of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia. Today, those three historic provinces compose the Czech Republic. The Czech lands had been settled by the Celts , then later by various Germanic tribes until the beginning of 7th...
. However, he started losing his influence over younger Slovenian authors. He rejected the poetry of Dragotin Kette
Dragotin Kette
Dragotin Kette was a Slovene Impressionist and Neo-Romantic poet. Together with Josip Murn, Ivan Cankar and Oton Župančič, he is considered as the beginner of modernism in Slovene literature.-Life:...
and Josip Murn and entered in a dispute with the poet Oton Župančič
Oton Župancic
Oton Župančič was a Slovene poet, translator and playwright.Župančič is regarded, alongside Ivan Cankar, Dragotin Kette and Josip Murn, as the beginner of modernism in Slovenian literature...
, from which he came as a clear loser. The young writer Ivan Cankar
Ivan Cankar
Ivan Cankar was a Slovene writer, playwright, essayist, poet and political activist. Together with Oton Župančič, Dragotin Kette, and Josip Murn, he is considered as the beginner of modernism in Slovene literature...
, whom Aškerc admired, also published several critically sarcastic essays on Aškerc's late poetry, in which he targeted Aškerc as being the symptom
Symptom
A symptom is a departure from normal function or feeling which is noticed by a patient, indicating the presence of disease or abnormality...
of the decay of old the Slovenian provincial national-liberal élite.
Despite the bitter last years of his life - in addition to everything mentioned, he lived in a constant fear of losing his job if the conservative Slovenian People's Party had won the municipal elections, which didn't happen -, his funeral in Ljubljana was attended by a huge mass of people, among whom were many of his former adversaries.
One of the main boulevards in the southern part of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva cesta, is named after him, as are several other public places and institutions.
Sources
- France Bernik, "Cankarjevo vrednotenje Aškerca" in Študije o slovenski poeziji (Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, 1993).
- Igor Grdina, Slovenci med tradicijo in perspektivo: politični mozaik 1860-1918 (Ljubljana: Študentska založba, 2003).
- Kajetan KovičKajetan KovičKajetan Kovič is a Slovene poet, writer, translator and journalist. He is best known for his poems and has written several bestselling children's books....
, Sled sence zarje (Ljubljana: Slovenska maticaSlovenska maticaSlovenska matica , also known as Matica slovenska, is the second-oldest publishing house in Slovenia, founded in the 19th century as an institution for the scholarly and cultural progress of Slovenes...
, 2006). - Ivan Prijatelj, Književnost mladoslovencev (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1962).