Fran Milčinski

Fran Milčinski
Born	3 December 1867 Lož, Duchy of Carniola, Austria-Hungary
Died	24 October 1932 Ljubljana, Drava Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Occupation	Lawyer, writer, playwright

Fran Milčinski (3 December 1867 – 24 October 1932), also known by the pen name Fridolin Žolna, was a Slovene lawyer, writer and playwright.

Life

Fran Milčinski was born in Lož, a town in Inner Carniola, then part of Austria–Hungary. At four years of age, he and his family moved to Ljubljana, where he attended primary and secondary school. After secondary school, in 1885, he enrolled to study law in Vienna. In 1890 he became a judge. He worked in Ljubljana and acted as a substitute judge in Škofja Loka, Radovljica, Litija, and Brdo. In 1895 he was transferred to Idrija for two years, and returned to Ljubljana after. In 1900 he became the manager of the Provincial Theatre (now the Slovenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre) in Ljubljana, and later worked as a judge and social worker in the juvenile justice system from 1902 onward. He married Marija Krejči in 1910, with whom he had four children; Breda Milčinski Slodnjak (1911–2001), Janez Milčinski (1913–1993), Frane Milčinski – Ježek (1914–1988) and Lev Milčinski (1916–2001). He assumed the position of councillor in the Provincial High Court in Ljubljana. Two years later he was nominated for councillor for the Table of the Seven in Zagreb, Croatia. He still worked as a lawyer after retiring in 1925. He occasionally made an appearance on Ljubljana's radio as a story teller in 1928. He died in Ljubljana.

Works

Milčinski was a humourist, satirist, youth literature writer and playwright. He started writing as a student. He was published by Rogač, Slovenski Narod, and Slovenec. His first humorous sketch stories were published in collections Igračke (1909) and Muhoborci (1912). In them he ridiculed the Slovene petty bourgeoisie, and made fun of the establishment and also the political and cultural situations in which he himself grew up. His books Tolovaj Mataj and Ptički brez gnezda were published in 1917, and Gospodična Mici in 1930 in which he remarks upon the misconducts in family education, and warns about child neglect. Between wars he published his humorous and satirical stories under the alias Fridolin Žolna. In these satirical sketch stories he described actual events. His most famous collection of humorous stories is Butalci (1949); the stories were published posthumously in the monthly magazine Žika, the youth paper Naš rod and in the storybook Tolovaj Mataj. Many of his works were published posthumously (Zgodbe skavta Petra, Humoreske in groteske).

He wrote many fantasy short stories, in which he worked on the ancient story motive of the Slovene folk song (Pravljice (1911), Tolovaj Mataj in druge slovenske pravljice (1917)). Besides that he also wrote plays (Brat sokol, Cigani, Kjer ljubezen, tam Bog, Krapn mlajši). The plays Volkašin (1913) and Mogočni prstan (1923) target audience was primarily the youth. In Življenjepis mojega peresa Milčinski wrote that he gained inspiration from his favourite writers such as Dostoyevsky, Dickens and Twain. Although Milčinski was born in time of naturalism and realism, he also created as a contemporary author. Nonetheless, he cannot be viewed as a clear representative of either literary genre. The genre title that suits him best is a humourist writer.

External links

• Fran Milčinski – author's works in the collection of the Digital Library of Slovenia
• Works by Fran Milčinski (pdf)
• Broadcast on Fran Milčinski. RTV Slovenija.