Mark Urelj

Márk Urélj: Pen name of Márk Venedjec 1851-1904. Urélj was the first great author in Slvanjek.

In his youth Urélj wrote several unpublished short stories and novel attempts in Hungarian and German before he at the age of 26 read a couple of Slvanjek poems by Pavel Mrác in Martin Mrác's newspaper Corier Slevanieç. He decided to thenceforth write in Slvanjek and turned to drama as his medium. Although Urélj thus belongs to the so-called Mracian awakening he rejected the complicated Mracian orthography and used a private phonetic orthography based on that of Wenedyk.

Urélj's work, starting with his debut work Vratrje "The Brothers" of 1878, mainly adresses the iniquities of contemporary bourgeois life. The 1884 play Andreji Tvery Vilje "The daughters of Andrej Tvér" caused public debate because of its severe criticism against arranged marriages. The bulky novel Mórt ja Domu "A dead in the House" of 1898 is generally seen as an autobigraphical account of Urélj's childhood and youth.

Márk Urélj died of tuberculosis in a sanatorium in Hungary.

BPJ 13:22, 26 October 2005 (PDT)