Zoran Bozic
Simbolika dogajalnega prostora v Matkovi Tini, Sreci in Krstu pri Savici
Symbolism of the Settings in Matkova Tina, Sreca, and Krst pri Savici
Slovenski sinopsis
English synopsis
English summary
Slovenski sinopsis
Za dogajalni prostor v Matkovi Tini, Sreci in Krstu pri
Savici je znacilna pokrajina ob vodi. Voda simbolicno spira krivdo
treh osrednjih literarnih oseb, tj. krcmarjeve Tine, Strezkove Tinke in
Crtomira, ki so hrepeneli po ljubezni, vendar pa koncali kot izobcenci
in zakrivili dejanja z usodnimi posledicami. Tina, Tinka in Crtomir so
svoj krizev pot hodili ob reki Soci, to pa zaznamuje podoba krscanskega
svetnika Janeza Nepomuka, zascitnika pred naraslimi vodami, ki je za to,
da bi lahko zivela prepovedana ljubezen, zrtvoval svoje zivljenje.
English synopsis
The typical setting in Matkova Tina, Sreca (Happiness) and
Krst pri Savici (The Baptism by the Savica) is locations near a
water. Water symbolically bathes away guilt of the central characters,
i.e. the innkeeper's Tina, Strezkova Tinka and Crtomir, who all yearned
for love but ended up as outcasts and doers of actions with fatal
consequences. Tina, Tinka and Crtomir did the stations along the river
Soca. This river is marked by the figure of the Christian saint John
Nepomuce, protector against swollen waters, who sacrificed his life so
that a forbidden love could live on.
English summary
In all three texts under discussion, Pregelj's Matkova Tina,
Kosmac's Sreca (Happiness), and Preseren's Krst pri Savici
(The Baptism by the Savica), a major component of the setting is water.
Tina's stations lead along the river Soca, Tinka loses her innocence by
the river Idrijca, and her life in the river. In Preseren's epic
romantic poem, written after Matija Cop had drowned in the river Sava,
all the key locations are associated with water, and Crtomir's travel to
Aquilea also geographically overlaps with Matkova Tina's grotesque
pilgrimage and Strezkova Tinka's pathetic quest. The meeting point of
all three narrative texts is Doblarska soteska, which links Tina's and
Tinka's physical deaths and forecasts Crtomir's spiritual death. One of
the central motifs in all three texts is that of guilt, both collective
and individual, in the latter case typically that of a social outcast.
The main characters' yearning for love in this world turns into fatal
actions with deadly consequences.
The common denominator of all three stories is St. John Nepomuce, the
Christian equivalent of Neptune, the protector against the force of
swollen waters, who unselfishly died to preserve the secret of love.
Against culture, for nature; the patron saint standing with a finger on
his mouth by the river, bathing and purifying. And the vicious circle
created by three authors who all wrote while living in foreign
environments and yearning for their home country and people, and for the
concise and vigorous Slovene language, was complete.
