Those were the days

As for as I know namedays are not too important in the Anglo-Saxon culture. Here in Hungary many people celebrate it, for example people who work for big companies bring some cakes on their name day (for my father his wife makes them), then in turn they got some impersonal present from the colleagues. A woman typically gets flowers and a man wine. Personally I am quite satisfied with emails and text messages, especially because I don't have much money to present others, so I cannot expect them to make a big fuss about my nameday.
The point is that I got a book by a Slovenian novelist and poet for my last nameday, April 18. I cannot recall ever reading anything by Slovenians, I couldn't even mention a name up until now. According to the description on the cover of the book, Kajetan Kovic is the living classic of the Slovenian literature and altogether six of his works have been translated to Hungarian so far. Kovic himself has translated some of our greatest poets, including Radnóti, Ady, and Weöres.

Képzelet tanár úr [Professor of Fantasy] is set in Ljubjana during the period of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. According to the cover it tells a story of a few days before the 1895 earthquake. Maybe I'm wrong but I cannot recall exact dates in the book, so I don't see why we should force this historical frame. The protagonist is Jernej Petric, a renaissance man, who is committed to writing a study on the causes and dangers of earthquakes in order to protect his fellow citizens. He also has a poetic side and secretly writes sonnets to his cousin, the beautiful Ursula.
Petric is indeed a curious figure. He speaks French, Italian, German and I don't know how many languages and has a habit of disguising himself, e.g. introducing himself by different names, impersonating all kinds of strange characters. To tell the truth, he is quite shy, which he accounts for by his being slightly hunchbacked.
Another important character is Ursula, the beautiful and dreamer daughter of Madame Venturini, the leader of the literary saloon Jernej attends. One day Jernej meets his former classmate, the handsome and rich Kristijan Ravbar, and a brilliant plan is formed in his mind. He introduces Kristijan to his adored Ursula with the intention of making a match. According to his reasoning Ursula wouldn't accept his poetry and love, so he employs Kristijan to present her with the sonnets and make her happy for a fortnight.
This strange and nostalgic world reminds me of the works of Kundera and Hrabal, and a little bit of our Hungarian Krúdy; though it is very likely that I base my judgements on my shallow knowledge of literature and stereotypes of Slavic literature. It was a short and joyful reading with some nice twists and peculiar characters in the story. I came to like all the three main characters. Ursula married money and realized early that his businessman husband treats her the same way he treats his accounts, regularly but without emotion. She has a habit of standing before the mirror with a What now? look on her face, which is something I often do, too (though not because of a wife-neglecting businessman). Kristijan is a dark-haired, dark-eyed guy, the type I fall for. He is a bit practical at the beginning but then he really falls in love and starts to care.
Jernej pretty much reminds me of myself. I have also played with the thought of creating alter egos, for two reasons. For one, I don't like to be too straightforward with strangers, especially not with a guy in a club. Secondly, I don't really like my given name, only its nickname. Okay, I have to admit that I have a third reason as well: it's just so exciting to be someone else for one night or whatever, just like a fancy dress party. And you can be simply anyone. Once I used the name Kovács Réka, which I really like to this day. I chose Réka after the daughter of the pagan leader, Koppány, whom I really liked in the rock opera István, a király, which is about our first Christian king. Kovács is just a common last name. Anyway, my friend quickly spoiled my fun because she didn't want to play along and call me Réka.
If we want to be honest, Jernej is simply a coward, and I cannot forgive him for this. How can he practically give the woman he loves to this good-looking former classmate? Come on, man, you cannot be so stupid. And this whole saving the people with his study on earthquakes business is mad to me. I'm not a humanitarian in this respect, I don't think I could or would like to place the happiness of the world (world peace, ha-ha) in front of my personal happiness. The love of my life I would possibly like to make happy, even with someone else, but not without giving a try.
All in all, I liked the book. And I've almost forget to mention its language, which is very important for me. It has this nostalgic, ironic tone that I really like in the previously mentioned Slavic authors. Sometimes it is even  metaphoric but it's not overused. I would happily read more by Kovic or more Slovenian literature.