Zgodovina novejšega slovenskega slovstva I: Od Pohlina do Prešerna

Ivan Grafenauer (1880–1964), then a young high school teacher, philologist and later an academician of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, systematically covered the period from the beginnings of modern Slovenian literacy to the death of Franc Prešeren (1849).

The first volume covers the period from Marko Pohlin (18th century) through the Enlightenment and Romanticism to Prešeren as the pinnacle of Slovenian poetry. The author presents key authors (e.g. Vodnik, Kopitar, Čop, Jarnik, etc.), their works, cultural and historical context, and the development of the Slovenian literary language and national consciousness within the Habsburg Monarchy.

The work is written in a clear, scientifically based manner and is intended primarily for high school teachers, students and a wider educated audience. The second volume (1911) continues with the period of the national revival (1848–1868). Together, both volumes constitute one of the first comprehensive syntheses of recent Slovenian literary history.

Grafenauer later became better known for his ethnological and folkloristic works and for the more popular A Brief History of Slovenian Literature, but this early work bears witness to his thorough philological education (Slavic and Germanic studies at the University of Vienna) and his national awakening commitment. The book was published at a time when Slovenian literary historiography was just establishing itself as an independent discipline.