Cover -- Preface and Acknowledgements -- Table of Contents -- Abbreviations of Cankar's Edited Works -- Works by Ivan Cankar Examined -- Poetry Collections and Cycles -- Poems, Sonnets -- Major Narrative Works: Novels, Collections of Novellas, Sketches and Stories, etc. -- Drama -- Literary Sketches, Stories, Novellas, Essays, and Articles -- Introduction -- Social and Political Relations in Cankar's Times -- The Cultural Surroundings in the Slovenian Provinces,in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in the Broader European Context -- Ivan Cankar's Oeuvre and the Infl uence of Slovenian and Foreign Writers on his Work -- The Aesthetic Foundations of, and Literary History behind, Cankar's Literature History -- Part one: ANCIENT ANDMODERN VIEWS OF LOVE -- Beauty, Love and Inspiration in Some Key Sources From Antiquity to Modernity -- 1. Beauty, Aesthetics and Ethics -- 2. Love and Inspiration -- 3. Love and Justifi cation of Forgiveness -- Cankar's Representations of Love towards the Mother in the Light of Modern Views -- 1. A Psychoanalytical Perspective on the Mother-Son Relationship in Cankar's Literature -- 1.1 A Sexual Anthropological Perspective on the Figure of the Mother and Woman in Cankar's Works -- 1.2 Ivan Cankar's Search for his Mother's Face -- 2. The Figure of the Deceased or Absent Mother in the Victorian Novel and in Ivan Cankar's Works -- 3. Marian Iconography in the Works of Ivan Cankar -- 3.1 The Figure of Dying Girls as Brides of Christ - Symbols of Mary - in Ivan Cankar and Gerhart Hauptmann -- 3.1.1 The Figures of Young Girls as Brides of Christ in Cankar's Novel Th e Ward of Our Lady of Mercy (1901/1902) -- 3.1.2 The Figure of a Dying Girl as the Bride of Christ in Hauptmann's Hannele (1896) -- 3.2 Other Marian Figures in Cankar's Literature.

4. Maternal Representations in Ivan Cankar's Works - Between Intimate Experience of Motherhood and its Cultural Signifi cance -- 4.1 The Image of the "Good" and the "Bad" Mother in Literature and Society -- 4.2 The Contradictory, Anxiety-Ridden Image of Motherhood in Ivan Cankar's Literature -- 4.2.1 The Image of the Abandoned and Sacrificial Mother in the Novel On the Hill (1901/1902) -- 4.2.2 The Figure of the "Bad" Unmarried Mother in The Death and Burial of Jakob Nesreča -- 4.2.3 The Figure of "Bad," Immoral and "Good" but Powerless Mothers in the Novel The Ward of Our Lady of Mercy -- 4.3 The Writer's Truncated Personal Identity and his Search for a Substitute Mother after the Death of his Mother -- Intimate Confessions of Love in Ivan Cankar's Literature, in his Love Correspondence and in Memories of his Fiancée -- 1. Intimate Confessions of Love in Ivan Cankar's Literature -- 2. Ivan Cankar's Love Correspondence -- 2.1 Cankar's Correspondence with Ana Lušin -- 3. Memories of Cankar's Life in Ottakring -- 3.1 The Recollections of Cankar's Ottakring Cohabitants and Neighbours -- 3.2 The Memories of Cankar's Fiancée Steffi Löffler -- Part two: CANKAR'S CONFESSIONS OF LOVE FOR HIS MOTHER -- 1. The Abyss of the Mother's Heart -- 2. Father and Son -- 3. A Lonesome Childhood -- 4. Love between Loyalty and Guilt in Cankar's Youth Poems about his Mother -- 5. Spiritual Anxiety and the Reaction to his Mother's Death in Youth Prose about a Mother -- 5.1 Denial of the Mother in the Sketch "His Mother" -- 5.2 Confessions of Sinfulness in Vignettes with the Motif of the Deceased Mother -- 6. The Mother's Guilt in the Novel On the Hill -- 7. Filial Disloyalty in the Short Fiction of the Vienna Period -- 8. The Sanctity of Remembering his Mother in At the Holy Grave -- 9. Cleansing the Heart in the Autobiographical Works My Life and The Sinner Lenart.

9.1 The Figure of the Oppressed Child and the "Ideal Mother" in The Sinner Lenart -- 9.2 The Mother's Influence on the Son in the Sketch "The Funeral Meal" -- 10. The Nearness of the Mother's Soul in Dream Visions, Cankar's Final Book -- 11. The Sources of Cankar's Guilt towards his Mother -- 12. Confession between Guilt and Redemption -- Part three: LONGING AND GUILT IN CANKAR'S EXPERIENCE OF LOVE FOR A WOMAN -- 1. The Ideal of Woman in Cankar's Literature -- 2. The Origins of Cankar's View of Love and Sexuality -- 3. The Vulnerability of Human Love in the Poetry Cycle Erotica -- 3.1 The Weakness of the Flesh, and Constant Contrition in the Cycle Vienna Nights -- 3.2 Impoverished Individuals and Prostitutes: Biblical Parallels -- 3.3 Reflections on the Beauty of Sin as a Critique of Moralism in the Epilogue to the Second Edition of Erotica -- 4. So Little Love: Rejection in Cankar's Youth Prose -- 5. The Marriage Bond as a Cause of Guilt in the Novel Foreigners -- 6. Between Human Pride and Christ's Love in the Novel The Cross on the Hill -- 7. Works from the Period of Cankar's Enthusiasm for Love and his Intention to Marry Steffi Löffler -- 7.1 The Writer's Veiled Doubt at the Possibility of Personal Happiness in the Novel Nina -- 7.2 The Tragic Wedding Journey in the Novella From Ottakring to Oberhollabrunn -- 7.3 The Writer's Confessions in the Novel Martin Kačur: The Biography of an Idealist -- 7.3.1 Martin Kačur as an Idealistic Teacher in Zapolje and his Relationship with Minka -- 7.3.2 Martin Kačur Is Sent to Blatni dol as Punishment -- his Hasty Marriage to Tončka -- 7.3.3 The Kačur Family Moves to Laze -- his Disappointment and Tragic End -- 8. The Deceased Wife's Ghostly Revenge in the "The Secretary Jareb" -- 8.1 The Power of Conscience and Parallels to Shakespeare's Hamlet -- 9. Self-Sacrifi cial Love in the Novel New Life.

9.1 Biblical Symbolism in New Life -- 9.2 Autobiographical Elements in the Novel New Life -- 10. Between Passionate and Romantic Love in the Novella "Mira" -- 11. Physical Death as the Birth of Love in the Novel Milan and Milena -- 11.1 New Testament Infl uences on Milan and Milena -- 12. Jealousy in the Short Prose Written when Cankar Separated from his Viennese Fiancée -- 12.1 Love and Envy in the Light of Psychoanalysis and in Shakespeare's Othello -- 12.2 Jealousy in Cankar's Short Prose of the Ljubljana Period -- 13. Cankar's Self-Accusation in the Love Sketches and Novellas of his Ljubljana Period -- 14. "If there were no longing in my heart, my heartwould die": The Figure of Fair Vida -- 14.1 Fair Vida's Guilt in France Prešeren and Ivan Cankar -- 14.2 Renunciation of Life and Fear of Suicide -- 14.3 Between Vida and Milena -- 15. Cankar's Experiences of Love for a Woman -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Bibliography of Translations of Cankar's Works in English Language -- English Translations of Cankar's Works in Book Editions -- English Translations of Cankar's (Shorter) Works in Periodicals -- Index and Description of Pictures -- Index of Subjects -- Index of Names and Authors.