Ivan Pregelj (27 October 1883 – 30 January 1960) was a Slovene writer, playwright, poet, and critic.

Life

Pregelj was born to a tailor's family in Most na Soči (at that time called Sveta Lucija). His father died while Pregelj was still a child. He attended school with the help of the parish priest. After graduating from high school, he started studying theology but soon abandoned this. He then went to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he entered the programs in

Slavic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

and

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, Germa ...

. He wrote his dissertation on the Capuchin sermon-writer Mihael Krammer (1667–1728). Pregelj taught as a secondary school instructor in

Gorizia Gorizia (; sl, Gorica , colloquially 'old Gorizia' to distinguish it from Nova Gorica; fur, label= Standard Friulian, Gurize, fur, label= Southeastern Friulian, Guriza; vec, label= Bisiacco, Gorisia; german: Görz ; obsolete English ''Gori ...

Pazin Pazin ( it, Pisino, german: Mitterburg) is a town in western Croatia, the administrative seat of Istria County. It is known for the medieval Pazin Castle, the former residence of the Istrian margraves. Geography The town had a population of 8,6 ...

Idrija Idrija (, in older sources ''Zgornja Idrija''; german: (Ober)idria, it, Idria) is a town in western Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Idrija. It is located in the traditional region of Inner Carniola and is in the Gorizia Statisti ...

Kranj Kranj (, german: Krainburg) is the third-largest city in Slovenia, with a population of 37,941 (2020). It is located approximately northwest of Ljubljana. The centre of the City Municipality of Kranj and of the traditional region of Upper Carnio ...

, and

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

. He intentionally stopped writing around age fifty. Pregelj died in

on 30 January 1960.

Works

Pregelj primarily wrote poems, stories, and plays. He created an extensive body of literary criticism in the form of essays and translations of various works. His best-known works are the novel ''Tolminci'' (The People from Tolmin) and ''Matkova Tina'' (Tina from the Matko Farm), both set during the Tolmin peasant revolt of 1713. Lesser-known works include his

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major li ...

for the opera ''Tajda'' by Hugolin Sattner (1851–1934). He also wrote a

biographical novel The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fictio ...

about

Simon Jenko Simon Jenko (October 27, 1835 – October 18, 1869) was a Slovene poet, lyricist and writer. Jenko was born in Podreča in the Sora Plain (''Sorško polje'') in Upper Carniola, then part of the Austrian Empire, now in Slovenia, as an illegit ...

titled ''Simon iz Praš'' (Simon from Praše). Other works by Pregelj include his poetry collection ''Romantika'' (Romance, 1910) and the folk tale ''Mlada Breda'' (Young Breda, 1913) about a wicked stepmother named Katra and a good bride named Anica, in which he realistically portrays a struggle over a farm in the Tolmin area. The novel ''Tlačani'' (Serfs, published in '' Dom in svet'', 1915–1916) is Pregel's most extensive work, published in book form under the title ''Tolminci'' (The People from Tolmin, 1927). He retitled his serialized story ''Zadnji upornik'' (The Last Rebel, ''Dom in svet'', 1918–1919) as ''Štefan Golja in njegovi'' (Štefan Golja and Friends, 1928). In many of his other stories and novels, Pregelj dealt with issues of ethnicity, faith, and world view, which he always resolved from a Catholic perspective. His last major work was the novella ''Thabiti Kumi'' (1933). From 1918 to 1930, Pregelj was very popular among Catholic intellectuals because he addressed ethical issues, in particular, the divide between spiritual and everyday life.

Sources

* Janež, Stanko. 1978. ''Pregled Slovenske književnosti.'' Maribor: Obzorja. 1883 births 1960 deaths Slovenian novelists Slovenian poets Slovenian male poets Expressionist writers Slovenian Roman Catholics University of Vienna alumni 20th-century poets 20th-century novelists People from the Municipality of Tolmin {{slovenia-writer-stub