'Josip Jurčič: The Narrator of His and Our Time - Urška Perenič'

The 2021 All-Slovenian Jurčič Year was honored by the publication of the scientific monograph Josip Jurčič: Narrator of Our Time and Our Time by Urška Perenič, a literary historian and associate professor of Slovenian literature at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. The author says that she wrote the book about Josip Jurčič (1844–1881) at a certain time in her life when she had accumulated just enough experience, not only in the profession, but also in everyday, one-of-a-kind life experiences. “I have been carrying this material with me for some time, which is why the opportunity of Jurčič Year and the invitation to collaborate from a respected publishing house were, I now know, necessary and valuable encouragements. When I had already thoroughly delved into the legacy material and was reading the writer's work day after day, it began to occur to me that I felt his gaze on me, a kind of spiritual presence. I am also increasingly convinced that I could not have written anything else if I had not first poured onto paper or the computer screen what I simply had to and was boiling inside me." The book about this great writer, among other things the author of the first Slovenian novel and the first Slovenian dramatic work, is divided into five sections in which the author delves into his rich narrative oeuvre in its entirety. At the same time, she provides new insights and fresh interpretations of his works and generally revives his legacy, which is a key building block of Slovenian narrative prose and literature as such.