Abstract
This article deals with the category of space (and time) in two literary texts written by the main Slovene modernist, Ivan Cankar (1876-1918). In his literary oeuvre, the space has a symbolic meaning connected to his symbolist style.
In Nina (1906), he depicts the modern metropolis; in the narrative, he includes aspects of modernity, such as the "flânerie" of the hero through the streets of the decadent city. He portrays the proletariat, the prostitutes and people on the edge of society.
The paper analyzes four typical spaces in the text: the metropolis, the interior of rooms, the heavenly space, and the space of the rich inner life of the protagonist. In the story Milan in Milena (1913), Cankar depicts the unhappy life of a man and a woman from their birth to death (suicide).
He shows the devastating influence of sexual experience for the construction of the self. Therefore, he interweaves typical spaces (rooms in the castle, big house, a church and rooms of the decadent city) in the narration as allegorical stages of their life.