Slovene historical fiction
Jožef Žemlja's Sedem sinov followed 1843, printed in the newly introduced Illyric alphabet with hacheks, to more clearly demonstrate the inclusion of Slovene national epic into the South Slavic and Pan-Slavic movement.
The historical tragedies by Friedrich Schiller were being translated from 1848 on, the original dramas by Josip Jurčič (Tugomer: Historična tragedija iz dobe bojev polabskih Slovenov s Franki, 1876, Veronika Deseniška, 1886) and Anton Medved (Viljem Ostrovrhar, 1894, Kacijanar, 1895, Za pravdo in srce, 1896) followed.
Some more historical dramas: Ana Wambrechtsamer, Za staro pravdo (1938), Ivan Mrak, Marija Tudor (1966), Metod Turnšek, Krst karantanskih knezov (1968), Jože Javoršek, Življenje in smrt Primoža Trubarja (1988), Miloš Mikeln, Knez Ulrik in husit ali Zvezde so mrzle (2006), Andrej Rozman Roza, Passion de Pressheren (2010).
Several Walter-Scott-like historical novels were composed by the »Slovene Walter Scott« Josip Jurčič who continuously produced this genre, beginning 1864 with Jurij Kozjak, slovenski janičar, the story about Turkish invasions awarded at Mohorjeva publishing house.
The most widespread and prominent genre types are the novels and tales on Antiquity (Alojzij Carli Lukovič, Zadnji dnevi v Ogleju, 1876, Alojz Rebula, V Sibilinem vetru, 1968), the novels devoted to Slavic settlement and Christianization (Josip Jurčič, Slovenski svetec in učitelj, 1886; Matija Prelesnik, Naš stari greh, 1903; Fran S. Finžgar, Pod svobodnim soncem, 1906), the chivalrous novels (Miroslav Malovrh's opus), the novels about the dukes of Celje (Fran Detela, Véliki grof, 1885; Pegam in Lambergar, 1991) who were seen as a questionable alternative to the ruling Habsburg dynasty, the stories about Turkish incursions (Jakob Sket, Miklova Zala, 1884; Rado Murnik, Hči grofa Blagaja, 1911–13) which helped to ignore domestic social conflicts, the religious battles between Catholics and Protestants (Anton Koder, Luteranci, 1883, Andrej Budal, Križev pot Petra Kupljenika, 1911, Ivan Pregelj, Bogovec Jernej, 1923), peasant uprisings (Koder, Kmetski triumvirat, 1884; Ivan Lah, Uporniki, 1906, Ivan Pregelj, Tolminci, 1915, Zadnji upornik, 1918), Jože Pahor, Matija Gorjan, 1940), local history (especially tales about Ljubljana, e.g. Ivan Tavčar, Janez Sonce, 1885), secret societies (Malovrh, Osvetnik, 1906, Igor Škamperle, Kraljeva hči, 1997), witches (Emil Vodeb, Libera nos a malo, 1911, Ivan Tavčar, Visoška kronika, 1919) and bandits (Jurčič, Rokovnjači, 1884), Uskoki (Malovrh, Strahovalci dveh kron, 1907; Lea Fatur, Za Adrijo!, 1909), The Illyrian provinces, governed by Napoleon (Fatur, Komisarjeva hči, 1910; Ivan Lah, Brambovci, 1911), family saga (Bogdan Novak, Lipa zelenela je, 1990–2000), and the most frequent of all, biographical novel (Jakob Bedenek, Od pluga do krone, 1891, about the mathematician Jurij Vega).
The archetypal hero, Martin Krpan (1858) by Fran Levstik is a smuggler who helped the Austrian emperor to get rid of the dangerous enemy Brdavs, for which he is rewarded with the licence for transport business, thus being socially promoted from peasantry to middle class.
Slavic writers were favoured till 1919: Michał Czajkowski, Henryk Sienkiewicz among the Poles, Prokop Chocholoušek, Alois Jirásek and Václav Beneš-Třebízský among the Czechs, Gogol, Leo Tolstoy, Pushkin, Merezhkovsky among the Russians.
As an exception, the popular non-Slavic writers Edward Bulwer-Lytton (Rienzi and The last days of Pompei), Michel Zévaco, Benjamin Disraeli and Alexandre Dumas were translated into Slovene.
A few Slovene historical tales were translated into other languages: Josip Jurčič's Jurij Kozjak and Ivan Erazem Tattenbach, Fran S. Finžgar's Pod svobodnim soncem, Tavčar's Visoška kronika, Jože Pahor's Serenissima, Vladimir Bartol's Alamut, Janez Jalen's Bobri, Drago Jančar's Galjot and Katarina, pav in jezuit, Florjan Lipuš, Stesnitev, Dušan Merc's Galilejev lestenec, Alojz Rebula's Maranatha ali Leto 999.
