Avgust Pirjevec was a Slovene literary scholar

Literary criticism

Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...

, lexicographist

Lexicography

Lexicography is divided into two related disciplines:*Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries....

 and librarian

Librarian

A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...

.

Biography

Pirjevec was born in a Slovene-speaking family in Gorizia

Gorizia

Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...

, a town in the Austrian Littoral

Austrian Littoral

The Austrian Littoral was established as a crown land of the Austrian Empire in 1849. In 1861 it was divided into the three crown lands of the Imperial Free City of Trieste and its suburbs, the Margraviate of Istria, and the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca, which each had separate...

 (now part of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

). He studied Slavic philology at the University of Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

. He graduated in 1913 with a thesis on Fran Levstik

Fran Levstik

Fran Levstik was a Slovene writer, political activist, playwright and critic. he was one of the most prominent exponents of the Young Slovene political movement.-Life and work:...

. During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 he served in the Austro-Hungarian Army

Austro-Hungarian Army

The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...

. After the demobilization

Demobilization

Demobilization is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and military force will not be necessary...

 in 1917, he taught Slovene and German language

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 at a Slovene-language high school in Trieste

Trieste

Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...

. In 1920, he was fired by the new Italian authorities in the Julian March

Julian March

The Julian March is a former political region of southeastern Europe on what are now the borders between Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy...

. In 1921, he moved to Ljubljana

Ljubljana

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...

, in what was then the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and became the chief librarian of the National Research Library

National and University Library of Slovenia

The National and University Library is one of the most important national educational and cultural institutions of Slovenia. It was established in 1774 by a decree released by the Empress Maria Theresa. It is located in the centre of Ljubljana, in a building designed by the architect Jože Plečnik...

. Between 1925 and 1927 he shortly worked at the Library of the National Museum

National Museum of Slovenia

The National Museum of Slovenia is located in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is situated in the Center district of the city near the Tivoli Park....

.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Pirjevec published several treatises on Slovene literature in the 19th century, especially the Romantic circle of France Prešeren

France Prešeren

France Prešeren was a Slovene Romantic poet. He is considered the Slovene national poet. Although he was not a particularly prolific author, he inspired virtually all Slovene literature thereafter....

 and Matija Čop

Matija Cop

Matija Čop , also known in German as Matthias Tschop, was a Slovene linguist, literary historian and critic.- Biography :...

. Together with Ivan Prijatelj and France Kidrič, Pirjevec was the main exponent of the positivist group of Slovenian literary historians of the interwar period. He was also important as a theoretician librarian: he published numerous articles and monographs on the function and organization of libraries and library systems in modern societies.

During the interwar period, Pirjevec maintained a position of a progressive and national national liberal

National liberalism

National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining nationalism with some liberal policies, especially regarding economic liberalism. The roots of it are to be found in the 19th century, when conservative liberalism was the ideology of the political classes in most European countries, then...

 intellectual. He was critical of the dictatorship of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and supported the idea of an autonomous United Slovenia

United Slovenia

United Slovenia is the name of an unrealized political programme of the Slovene national movement, formulated during the Spring of Nations in 1848...

 within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...

. During World War II, his son Dušan Pirjevec

Dušan Pirjevec

Dušan Pirjevec, known by his battle name Ahac , was a Slovenian resistance fighter, literary historian and philosopher...

 became an important resistance leader of the Yugoslav partisans in Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

; his daughter Ivica Pirjevec was active in the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People

Liberation Front of the Slovenian People

On 26 April 1941 in Ljubljana the Anti-Imperialist Front was established. It was to promote "an international massive movement" to "liberate the Slovenian nation" whose "hope and example was the Soviet Union"...

 and was killed by the Nazis in 1944. Because of the anti-Fascist activities of his children, Pirjevec was arrested by the Nazi authorities of the Province of Ljubljana

Province of Ljubljana

The Province of Ljubljana was a province of the Kingdom of Italy and of the Nazi German Adriatic Littoral during World War II. It was created on May 3, 1941 from territory occupied and annexed to Italy after the Axis invasion and dissolution of Yugoslavia, and it was abolished on May 9, 1945, when...

 and sent to the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp

Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...

 in autumn 1943. He died there in December 1944.

After the war, a bust of Pirjevec was erected in the main entrance hall of the National and University Library of Slovenia

National and University Library of Slovenia

The National and University Library is one of the most important national educational and cultural institutions of Slovenia. It was established in 1774 by a decree released by the Empress Maria Theresa. It is located in the centre of Ljubljana, in a building designed by the architect Jože Plečnik...

.