Conflicts in Koprivec’s novel »Hlša pod vrhom«

Abstract

For a period after 1945 Slovenian literature followed the trend of socio-critical realism. Consequently, some older writers revived village themes (man and the soil), giving them new life. During those years some works of great importance were written, notably Gašper Osat (1949) by JuS Kozak, trilogy Povest o oblasti (1950—1957) by Miäko Kranjec, Na Icmetih (1954) by Ivan Potrč. In all of them intricate postwar village reality is shown, primarily the process of the socialization of village and conflicts between the old and the new. In the same period Koprivec’s first novel Hiša pod vrhom (1957) appeared. The central part of the novel is assigned to the Poharič family (Nanika and Tunek) on one side, and to the people from the mountain (village community), on the other. In the conflict concerning the soil special attention is paid to Nanika Poharič, a woman of an outstanding perseverance who bears in herself an un- natural passion for the possession of soil. When in danger of losing it she takes to drinking, gives up her husband, starts hating people from the mountains and is convinced that it is only the soil that can never disappoint man, and that collectivization of agriculture leads to downfall. Her fight for the soil is actually a search for a means to free her and the people from the mountain from poverty, in the same way as is the intention of Tunek’s entering the farm cooperative. The mountainous people had different attitudes towards the soil because they never had it and therefore envy the Poharičs. But both they and the Poharičs are in fear of the activist Kričman. Sometimes they feel as if there were no solutions, but time will show that the new authority does not support Kričman and his like. The blacksmith Bračić, with his visionary gleams, is in constant conflict with everybody, but his generosity and honesty are above everything.