9 / 1998
Rozina Švent

The significance of personal letters (correspondence) and diaries in a comprehensive presentation of an artist



The author reveals a few fragments of Louis Adamic’s life and work and his contacts with some of his contemporaries, in most cases authors whom Adamic met during his two visits in Slovenia (1932-33 and 1949), e.g. Ivan Hribar and Edvard Kocbek. More interesting is Adamic’s correspondence with Dr Anton Novačan, a hot tempered Republican to whom, in one of his letters, Adamic »admited« that he also considered himself a Republican - although as a »democtaric American« he spoke for a non-violent, constitutional change of the system. It is also evident from his letters that his visits to Slovenia, especially the first one, had a far-reaching impact on him and created a new, closer tie between him and his native land, from which he had already felt to a certain degree alienated.