William Shakespeare and Slovene dramatists (II) : J. Jurčič, F. Levstik, I. Cankar, O. Župančič, B. Kreft : (the makers of myths)

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of William Shakespeare on Slovene playwrights in the period between 1876, which marks the appearance of Jurčič - Levstik\u27s Tugomer, and the 1930s, when Oton Župančič published his tragedy Veronika Deseniška (Veronika of Desenice, 1924) and, a few years later, Bratko Kreft his history, Celjski grofje (The Counts of Celje, 1932). Together with Cankar\u27s works all of the plays discussed in this study deal with one of the well-known Slovene myths. In the previous number of Acta Neophilologica I published my study on the first Slovene tragedy Miss Jenny Love, which was published in Augsburg in 1780.1 The Romantic period, which followed this publication, was in Slovenia and elsewhere in Europe mainly characterized by the appearance of poetry, with a few exceptions of plays which were primarily intended for reading and not for the stage (Closet Drama). Let me mention here that in the Romantic period some of the finest Slovene poetry was written by France Prešeren (1800-1849), and although some of his friends suggested he should also attempt to write a play, his closest achievement to drama was his epic poem Krst pri Savici (Baptism at the Savica River, 1836), which is also often considered by literary historians as a predecessor of later Slovene dramatic literature. Although many Slovene authors who wrote their works in the nineteenth century knew Shakespeare\u27s plays, they still found it easier to express themselves in prose. The first Slovene novel is Josip Jurčič\u27s Deseti brat (The Tenth Brother), which was published in 1866, ten years earlier than his play Tugomer (Tugomer). However,Jurčič´s tragedy Tugomer was artistically very much improved by the adaptation made by Fran Levstik, whose text has been since considered as the ˝true˝ version of this play. Further editions and adaptations of this play definitely prove that several Slovene authors have found the subject-matter of this play worthy of new interpretations. By the end of the nineteenth century the list of Slovene translators of Shakespeare´s plays (most of them chose only some acts or scenes) was quite long. But it was only in 1899, when Ivan Cankar´s translation of Hamlet appeared on stage of the Slovene National Theatre in Ljubljana, that a real master of the Slovene language approached one of Shakespeare\u27s plays. Cankar became enthusiastic about Shakespeare\u27s work and this is best seen also in Shakespeare\u27s influence on three plays written by Cankar: Kralj na Betajnovi (The King of Betajnova, 1901), Pohujšanje v dolini Šentflorjanski (Scandal in the Valley of Saint Florian, 1907) and Lepa Vida (Beautiful Vida, 1911). The same kind of "enchantment" caught Oton Župančič, a Slovene poet, translator and dramatist, who had translated by 1924, when his Veronika Deseniška (Veronika of Desenice) appeared, several plays written by Shakespeare. A large number of echoes of Shakespeare\u27s plays can be found in Župančič\u27s play, not to mention the Bard\u27s influence on Župančič\u27s verse and style. Such influence can also be traced in Kreft\u27s play. Many Slovene literary historians and critics mention in their studies Shakespeare\u27s influence on Slovene dramatists but their reports are mainly seminal and rather generalizing. Therefore the purpose of this study is to provide a deeper analytical insight into this topic.Pričujoča študija predstavlja nadaljevanje moje raziskave o vplivih angleškega dramatika Williama Shakespeara na dramsko ustvarjanje Antona Tomaža Linharta, posebej še na njegovo igro Miss Jenny Love, ki je bila objavljena v Augsburgu leta 1780. Čeprav je Linhart to meščansko tragedijo napisal v nemščini, velja Miss Jenny Love kot prva tragedija, ki jo je napisal nek slovenski dramatik. V zadnjih desetletjih osemnajstega in v prvih desetletjih devetnajstega stoletja pa je ne le v slovenski, temveč tudi v zahodnoevropskih literaturah sicer nastalo malo pomembnih iger, ob koncu stoletja pa je prevladovala simbolistična dramatika, (npr. Maurice Maeterlinck), nad katero sta se navduševala tudi Ivan Cankar in Oton Župančič.Slovenski dramatiki in njihova dela, ki jih obravavam v tej študiji, so bili vsi veliki občudovalci dram Williama Shakespeara, ki so bile do tridesetih let dvajsetega stoletja že deloma prevedene tudi v slovenščino (večino prevodov je pripravil O. Župančič, dve igri pa je prevedel tudi I. Cankar). Leta 1876 je izšel Jurčič - Levstikov Tugomer, nekaj desetletij kasneje pa tudi Cankarjeve drame Kralj na Betajnovi (1901), Pohujšanje v dolini Šentflorjanski (1907) in Lepa Vida (1911). Župančičeva poetična drama Veronika Deseniška je izšla in bila tudi prvič uprizorjena leta 1924, Kreftova realistično-problemska obravnava motiva o celjskih grofih pa 1932. Shakespearove igre so močno vplivale na dramsko ustvarjanje omenjenih avtorjev (med katerimi so bili slednji trije tudi prevajalci), kot tudi na igre nekaterih drugih manj znanih slovenskih dramskih piscev tega časa. Slovenski literarni zgodovinarji in kritiki so že zgodaj opazili Shakespearov vpliv na slovenske dramatike, pri čemer so najbolj pogosto omenjali klasično strukturo teh iger in občasno tudi značajske sličnosti njihovih junakov s Shakespearovimi liki