Vasilij Melik : a Slovene Historian of the Habsburg Long Nineteenth Century

Stergar, Rok (author)

In international historiography, Vasilij Melik (1921-2009), professor of modern history at the University of Ljubljana, established himself primarily as a historian of Habsburg elections. His unsurpassed ability to explain this complex matter in an elegant and easily understandable manner without sacrificing nuance and detail made his book – published in Slovene and German – and other relevant publications into something every historian of Habsburg elections simply must read. Melik authored additional important books and articles that were limited to a much smaller readership due to only being published in Slovene. They were nevertheless important contributions, relevant not just for the nineteenth-century history of present-day Slovenia but for the entire Empire, or at least its Cisleithanian part. Perhaps the most important was a series of articles that were published in the 1970s and represented a thorough revision of the established narrative. Melik produced a new history of the so-called Slovene lands during the second half of the long nineteenth century, which eschewed unnecessary and unfounded simplifications. Melik’s greatest quality as a historian was that he constantly evolved, that he was not only deeply knowledgeable but also always eager to learn and not afraid to be original, to go against the flow. This made him an original h· In international historiography, Vasilij Melik (1921-2009), professor of modern history at the University of Ljubljana, established himself primarily as a historian of Habsburg elections. His unsurpassed ability to explain this complex matter in an elegant and easily understandable manner without sacrificing nuance and detail made his book – published in Slovene and German – and other relevant publications into something every historian of Habsburg elections simply must read. Melik authored additional important books and articles that were limited to a much smaller readership due to only being published in Slovene. They were nevertheless important contributions, relevant not just for the nineteenth-century history of present-day Slovenia but for the entire Empire, or at least its Cisleithanian part. Perhaps the most important was a series of articles that were published in the 1970s and represented a thorough revision of the established narrative. Melik produced a new history of the so-called Slovene lands during the second half of the long nineteenth century, which eschewed unnecessary and unfounded simplifications. Melik’s greatest quality as a historian was that he constantly evolved, that he was not only deeply knowledgeable but also always eager to learn and not afraid to be original, to go against the flow. This made him an original historian, whose work remains relevant to this day.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Historiography, Habsburg Empire, Slovenian Historiography, Slovene historians, Slovenia
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2022
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: Str. 113-120
• Numbering: 81, 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-144452
• UDC: 929(=163.6)Melik V.
• ISSN on article: 0392-8926
• DOI: 10.19272/202211501005
• COBISS.SI-ID: 142610435
• Publication date in RUL: 24.02.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Storia della storiografia
• Shortened title: Stor. storiogr.
• Publisher: Editoriale Jaca Book, Fabrizio Serra Editore
• ISSN: 0392-8926
• COBISS.SI-ID: 521129241

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: Vasilij Melik, zgodovinopisje, Habsburška monarhija, slovensko zgodovinopisje, slovenski zgodovinarji, Slovenija

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P6-0235-2015
• Name: Slovenska zgodovina