Josip Vošnjak: Ženska zmaga, veseloigra v treh dejanjih
8 nastopajočih (3ž 5m)
The text is preserved in manuscript form at the Slovenian Theatre Institute under the reference DD 708. The volume (21 x 17 cm) has 112 numbered pages. On page 113 is the censor's permission for staging, dated 9 October 1889.
Josip Vošnjak (1834-1911), pisatelj in zdravnik, je bil eden najvidnejših slovenskih politikov in kulturnih delavcev druge polovice 19. stoletja. Leta 1867 je bil izvoljen za poslanca v štajerskem deželnem zboru, kjer se je v naslednjem desetletju zavzemal za jezikovno enakopravnost in Zedinjeno Slovenijo, za slovensko ozemeljsko in upravno enovitost. Od 1873 do 1885 je bil poslanec v državnem zboru na Dunaju, od 1877 do upokojitve (1895) pa v kranjskem deželnem zboru. Kot vodilni politik slovenske liberalne stranke je zagovarjal pomen izobraževanja in slovenske gospodarske osamosvojitve; sodeloval je pri ustanavljanju domačih bank in zadrug. Kot politik in publicist se je zavzemal za izboljšanje nevzdržnih socialnih razmer kmečkega in delavskega prebivalstva. Bil je med ustanovitelji Slovenske matice (1864), in časnika Slovenski narod (1868). Zanj je pisal članke o gospodarstvu, financah, politiki, socialnih in medicinskih vprašanjih ter tudi o kulturi. Strokovne in leposlovne prispevke je objavljal še v Slovenskem gospodarju, Ljubljanskemu zvonu, v publikacijah Mohorjeve družbe in drugje. Konec šestdesetih let je uspešno nastopal na slovenskih taborih, pozneje pa je dejavno sodeloval pri zbiranju sredstev in postavljanju spomenikov pomembnim Slovencem, pri ustanavljanju Glasbene matice, Ciril-Metodovega društva in Pisateljskega društva. Kot sodelavec Dramatičnega društva je pomagal pri nastajanju in razvoju slovenskega gledališča.
Vošnjak's first dramatic attempt in German, which he also staged, dates back to his student years. After completing his medical studies in Vienna, he returned to his native land, switched from German to Slovenian in his writing, and wrote a tragedy in verse, which has not survived. Vošnjak's early literary attempts and publications, encouraged by his friend and colleague Josip Jurčič, were interrupted by a steep political career. He took up writing again when he completed his second term in the National Assembly, i.e. after his fiftieth birthday. Literary historians note that during this time he completed previously conceived or planned texts, including the novel Twins (1889) and numerous dramatic works that he submitted to the Dramatic Society a few months after the novel's publication. For these texts, which in terms of form and content belong more to the 1870s, France Koblar used the term "late reading drama" (Slovenian Drama I, 1972, str. 139). Vošnjak, ki se je po letu 1885 z vso svojo energijo in marljivostjo lotil dela za slovensko gledališče, je ta besedila napisal za majhen, utesnjen oder ljubljanske čitalnice, ki so ga v letih po požaru Stanovskega gledališča in pred dograditvijo nove gledališke stavbe ponovno oživili (1887–1892), tako da je v njegov zagovor potrebno zapisati, da njegova dramatika ni »poznočitalniška« le v vsebinskem in oblikovnem smislu, temveč je dobesedno čitalniška. Ko se je končno ponudila možnost, da bi tudi Slovenci dobili svoje gledališče, je Vošnjak dejavno sodeloval pri tem projektu kot odbornik v kranjskem deželnem zboru in blagajnik Dramatičnega društva. Kot mlad politik se je leta 1868 udeležil otvoritve Narodnega gledališča v Pragi in na njej nastopil kot govornik, pri skoraj šestdesetih pa je dočakal tudi otvoritev domačega gledališkega prizorišča.
Vošnjak, who participated in discussions about the repertoire conundrums of Slovenian theatre during this period, also tried to solve them with his own dramatic texts: he offered the Dramatic Society five mostly lighter texts or comedies. Foam, To their own and Minister's letter so bile leta 1889 tudi uprizorjene, komediji A hundred years ago and Women's victory but they failed to make it to the stage during this period.
The next type of Vošnjak's plays is closely related to his attempts at a Tolstoyan story with material from the lives of ordinary people with directly expressed moral teachings (Condemned, You father to the threshold, your son across the threshold, Two neighbors, Blessed are the merciful...). He developed his version of Mohorian literature not only in prose experiments, but also in drama. Thus, a rural version of the bourgeois play was created. To their own, ki jo je objavil v Calendar of the Society of St. Mohor (1891). Sem sodita še besedili, ki sta izšli v knjižni zbirkiovens Slovenske večernice Družbe sv. Mohorja. Game Walnut, subtitled Scenes from Farm Life, was published in volume 45 (1991), a short story in one act Let's not give up! and in volume 53 (1901).
The third set of Vošnjak's dramatic works and his literary peak are represented by the plays Beautiful Vida (book edition and performance 1893) and Doctor Dragan (1894), which was not performed at the time of its creation due to problematic content. Compared to earlier texts, these are works that are complex in content and form, characterized by more contemporary tones and motifs, although they remain trapped in melodramatic sentimentality and euphemism.
During this time, they put on stage Coal mine (1994), a less successful and accomplished work, according to literary history, depicting a strike in a coal mine.
With their contemporary content and complexly drawn characters, the aforementioned Vošnjak plays indicated the rapprochement of Slovenian dramatic literature with modern European literary trends, a rapprochement that was only fully realized by Ivan Cankar.
FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE SLOVENIAN THEATRE INSTITUTE: VOŠNJAK'S WORKS IN BOOK EDITIONS AND A SELECTION OF MATERIALS ABOUT THE AUTHOR
In 1889, a one-act play was published To each their own. In the same year, as the first booklet of the Vošnjaks Collected dramatic and narrative writings published novel Twins, printed in the National Printing House in Ljubljana. Of the planned five volumes, only three were published. The other two were printed by the Celje printing house of Dragotin Hribar, the former manager of the National Printing House in Ljubljana. Drama Beautiful Vida was published in 1893, Doctor Dragan and a year later.
Singing game Coal miner It was never fully printed. France Koblar included the work in an anthology Older Slovenian drama (1951). He decided to publish the second act; he merely summarized the other three.
In the last years of his life, Vošnjak published Memories in two volumes (1905, 1906). The work was republished in 1982 by Slovenska matica. The selection was made by historian Vasilij Melik, who is also the author of the accompanying study.
Leta 1996 je izšel prvi in edini zvezek knjižne zbirke Slovenska meščanska dramatika. Urednik in pisec predgovora, Igor Grdina, se je odločil za objavo Vošnjakovega Doctor Dragan and Matches Anton Funtek.
Vošnjak's dramatic work was discussed by Frank Wollman in the book Slovenian drama (1925) and France Koblar in Slovenian playwrights (1972). It also has an important place in Dušan Moravec's monograph Townspeople in Slovenian drama (1960).
Dušan Moravec je objavil obširno analizo Vošnjakove dramatike tudi v 43. številki Documents of the Slovenian Theater Museum (1984).
Najobsežnejši pregled Vošnjakovega literarnega, političnega in kulturnega delovanja je monografija Maline Schmidt Snoj, ki je izšla v knjižni zbirki Znameniti Slovenci pri Novi reviji (2003).
Of all the dramatic texts that Vošnjak subtitled as comedies or comedies, Women's victory contains the most comedic elements.
Komedija v naslovu napoveduje triumf nežnejšega spola. Kaj je ženska zmaga? Poroka. Ta je dosežek že sama po sebi, idealna pa je zakonska zveza z ljubljenim moškim. In da je ženska zmaga res popolna, Vošnjak na koncu združi tri pare. Najmlajši je prisrčen, naiven in noro zaljubljen. Z vztrajnostjo in odločnostjo premaga vse ovire in si na koncu obljubi večno zvestobo. Mlada vdova in zaprisežen samec sta že bolj trd oreh, a na koncu izkušena ženska svojega izbranca prepriča o nujnosti zakonskega jarma. Tudi v tretjem primeru je bodoča nevesta nadvse dejavna: za njo so dolga leta neuspešnega lova na moža in s pridobljenimi izkušnjami omreži nezaželenega snubca dosti mlajše tekmice.
"The play takes place in a small town in Lower Slovenia". In the first act, we learn about a complicated situation: the future brides and grooms are related to each other, which will become even more complicated after the weddings. In his office, lawyer Repič is convincing a young trainee in love not to force him into a disastrous marriage. He himself has decided to live a single life with his unmarried sister, who is his housekeeper. Young Milivoj would like to marry a merchant's daughter, but her father does not like lawyers and has intended her to be the wife of the castle steward.
In the second and third acts, we move to the "enemy camp". The action first takes place in the merchant's villa, and finally at a garden party in front of it. With the help of the woman's and Repic's scheming, everything turns out happily for the couples in the end, but the merchant Grabec is much less pleased than the future bride and groom, because he has to welcome two lawyer sons-in-law into his house.