sugar factory, known as Cukrarna). He died there at the age of 22 from tuberculosis, on the same bed as his friend Dragotin Kette just two years before. He is buried in the Žale cemetery, next to the tombs of Dragotin Kette, Ivan Cankar and Oton Župančič, in what is known as the "monument of Slovene modernism" (Spomenik slovenske moderne). Reception Murn remained mostly unacknowledged by contemporary critics. The doyen of 19th-century Slovene poetry, Anton Aškerc rejected him as a decadent. Even some of his closest colleagues, namely Cankar and Župančič, did not look favorably on his poetic endeavor, regarding it as too symbolist, abstract, "anemic," and "non-lively." He did gain some recognition during his Vienna period, when his poems were published in established literary magazines such as Ljubljanski zvon, but the later developments in his poetry did not receive a positive response by the public. His fame came soon after his death. The literary critic, Ivan Prijatelj, edited a volume of his collected poems in 1903, jointly with a brilliant essay which gained recognition both to Murn and to Prijatelj himself as a literary critic. Prijatelj's essay also influenced Oton Župančič to change his opinion on Murn's poetry; as an homage to his late friend, Župančič wrote the poem "Manom Josipa Murna Aleksandra" (To the Manes of Josip Murn, a.k.a. Aleksandrov). By the end of the decade, Murn was already firmly established in the Slovene literary canon, and considered a great influence on Intimism and successive generations of poets, particularly Alojz Gradnik, Srečko Kosovel, Miran Jarc, France Balantič, Edvard Kocbek, Dane Zajc, Niko Grafenauer, and Jože Snoj. Snoj dedicated extensive studies to Murn's poetry. References Further reading Niko Grafenauer, Josip Murn-Aleksandrov (Ljubljana: Prosvetni servis, 1965). Vladimir Osolnik, Obrazi: Josip Murn-Aleksandrov (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1980). Jože Snoj, Znameniti Slovenci: Josip Murn (Ljubljana: Založba Jaroslav Skrušny, 1978). External links Page dedicated to Murn Murn's poetry collections online 1879 births 1901 deaths Writers from Ljubljana Carniolan poets Slovenian poets Slovenian male poets 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century poets 19th-century Carniolan writers Burials at Žale Tuberculosis deaths in Slovenia