Jump to: navigation, search


The representations of Slavic nations in the writings of Josipina Turnograjska



by Katja Mihurko

Josipina Turnograjska was the first Slovenian woman writer who wrote in the years after the March revolution. During that period, the national consciousness of the Slovenians living under the Austro-Hungarian domination began to strengthen. Her male contemporaries, who were beginners in the field of Slovenian prose as well, wrote national constructive literature where the figure of the Slovenian peasant was placed in the limelight. The reason for this was the lack of Slovenian aristocracy at that time, since the middle class had only just begun to rise. Josipina Turnograjska used the events from the histories of Slavic nations as the subject matter for her stories. In the age when Slovenian literature was marked by nationalism, she presented her vision of cosmopolitan and multicultural literature. In her works women were depicted as the figures who surpassed the male protagonists in courage when fighting for their homeland on the battlefield. Turnograjska wanted to awaken the love for the Slav homeland through her work and sought the integration of all Slavs in the common homeland.





AsK, September 2012



Personal tools