Josip Jurčič in Time and Space

The house in which Jurčič was born was built in 1826 by his grandfather. Before, the writer's ancestors had lived in a wooden cottage - pajštba, so they were called Pajžbarji. The old postcards kept in the Pictorial Collection show the original image of the homestead, a characteristic house in the central Slovenian territory of the 19th century.

Josip Jurčič's family comes from Jablanica in the Dolenjska region, where his father Marko Juršič (Jurčič) was born. In 1840, he married Marija Jankovič, a daughter of a cottager Pajštbar in Muljava. As evidenced by a preserved document, they had three children Marija, Jožef and Anton.

In his work Spomini o Josipu Jurčiči (Memoirs of Josip Jurčič, 1888), a literary historian Fran Levec writes that Jožef (Josip Jurčič) was called "Jožek" at home. He was a favourite of his grandfather, his mother's father, who could write and read. He told stories to his grandson and inspired his interest in literature. Using the fictional name J. Zavojšek, Jurčič described parts of the stories in the Novice journal entitled Spomini na deda (Memories of Grandfather, 1863). Now, the stories can be read in Jurčičevi zbrani spisi (Jurčič's Collected Essays, 1884).

Jurčič's diaries, found by Fran Levec in Jurčič’s legacy, testify of the author’s passionate reading of literature, as he meticulously wrote down summaries of texts. During the holidays, Jurčič preferred to spend time talking with older villagers rather than to play with his mates. He loved to read in the garden under a pear tree and wrote in his father’s beehive.

The Kravjek Castle was situated north-west of Muljava. In the summer of 1864, Jurčič was visiting the family Otto from Darmstadt who lived in the castle between 1861 and 1880. He was teaching Johanna Otto, the daughter of the castle owner, Slovene language. He felt love for her, but did not express his sentiments because of differences in social class. In 1878 Johanna returned to Darmstadt. Although their paths divided, they remained friends and continued to correspond in later years.

Jurčič paid tribute to Johanna Otto in his novel Deseti brat by dedicating her the character of Manica, while he took on the role of her admirer Lovro Kvas.

Deseti brat (The Tenth Brother, 1866) is a ground-breaking work in the Slovenian space, as it is considered our first novel. Until then, people read short stories, often with moral doctrine. The novel introduced a love topic, a mystery and a variety of complications. In Deseti brat, the bourgeois language spoken by the castle characters, is intertwined with the lively, original and witty language of the village people.

In Jurčič's legacy, a printed invitation to the Lawyers' Ball has been preserved. It was organized on 5 February 1876 in the luxuriously lit hall of the Kazina palace during the carnival season.

On 7^th February 1876 Laibacher Tagblatt reported that in spite of bad weather 72 couples gathered at the Lawyers' Ball and danced graciously to the sounds of a military band playing quadrille and cotillions. They were offered tea, well-liked punch and sweets. The palace lobby which was beautifully decorated with flowers left the reporter speechless.

In 19^thcentury, balls were considered to be important social events. At a ball, interesting discussions usually evolved and they could last until the early morning hours. Balls were also a good opportunity for a making new business connections. It could very easily be that Josip Jurčič responded to the invitation as he only had to cross Kongresni trg to reach the Kazina palace.

In the novel Mej dvema stoloma (Between two chairs, 1876), Jurčič vividly described one of such events: "Then they danced, flirted, observed each other with affection and jealousy, hate and interest, they rambled and stood, yawned behind the fan or topper, and went like this all night long, before and after each cotillion."

Rokovnjači (The Bandits, 1882) is a historical novel set in the time of the Illyrian provinces. Jurčič outlined his first drafts for the novel during his holidays on Brdo. Friendly talks with Janko Kersnik were important for his writing, so Jurčič set the main events of the novel at Brdo.

Jurčič wrote almost all of his drafts for the novel on small pieces of paper. The arrangement of his legacy required a great deal of concentration, which can also be read in the Ljubljanski zvon article.

The news of Jurčič's death, on May 3, 1881, was much-noticed. It was reported by several newspapers, and a large number of respected personalities of the time attended the funeral.

Due to its composition, iron-tannin ink is extremely corrosive and causes oxidative decomposition of cellulose, particularly in combination with a poor quality of paper, on which documents from Jurčič's legacy are written.