Prežihov VorancCritiques

Prežihov Voranc was one of the pseudonyms of Lovro Kuhar, a Slovene socialist with an elementary school education and a passion for political activism that landed him in jails across Europe. Despite keeping a relatively low profile during WWII, a proponent of a ″cultural silence″ during the occupation of Slovenia, he was rounded up and sent to concentration camps. He never recovered and died a few years after the war. He is known for his novels and short stories in the social realist style.

The Self-Sown is the story of Meta, a young housemaid in the wealthy Karničnik household. When she is discovered to be carrying the child of the oldest son, she is tortured and made into a social outcast. Despite subsequent beatings, she continues her relationship with Ožbej and bears him eight more children. She only grows more beautiful in the face of adversity, and her children inherit her strength and goodness. Within a few generations, they are an army of downtrodden peasants with the potential to rise up and claim their rights. They are the self-sown.