The Slovenian dramatist, poet, literary critic and essayist Ivan Cankar (1876-1918) was one of the greatest Slovenian writers and stylists, as well as the pioneer of modern Slovenian literature. This book, a follow-up to the author's study Mirror of Reality and Dreams: Stories and Confessions of Ivan Cankar, is the second English-language monograph on Cankar's literary oeuvre. Whereas the first study focused on Cankar's social and moral criticism, this monograph sheds light on the mother and woman as portrayed in his works. Through the figure of the mother, Cankar reveals his delicate and subtle relation to weaker individuals in general; the figure of woman in his works illustrates his complicated, often two-fold, internally contradictory relation to love and sexuality.

Irena Avsenik Nabergoj's research focuses on literary-historical studies of Slovenian writers from the 19 and 20 centuries, literary characterization of Jews, and literary representation of reality and truth. In 2009 she received a Slovenian State Prize for her research achievements.

Contents: The Austro-Hungarian empire and the broader European context - Ancient and modern views of love - Maternal representations in Cankar's works - The figure of the deceased or absent mother - Intimate confessions of love for his mother and a woman in Cankar's literature and correspondence - Cankar's relation to his father.