Alma Karlin

Alma Maximiliana Karlin (October 12, 1889 – January 14, 1950) was a Slovenian traveler, writer, poet, collector, polyglot and theosophist. She was one of the first European women to circle the globe alone.

Biography She was born in the Styrian town of Celje (now part of Slovenia) in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire as the daughter of Jakob Karlin (1829–1898), a major in the Austro-Hungarian Army, and Wilibalde Miheljak (a.k.a. Vilibalda, 1844–1928), a teacher. Her father, aged around 66, died when she was eight years old. Alma grew in a predominately German-speaking milieu, and regarded herself chiefly as Austrian rather than ethnic German or Slovene. She was born with a spinal defect and wore devices intended to remedy this during her childhood.

It was at this time when she started work on her (unpublished) dictionary of ten languages, including Slovene.

At the outbreak of World War I in 1914 Karlin was in London working as a translator.

In 1919, she returned home, to Celje, then already part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Almost immediately thereafter, however, she started raising money for another journey. To this purpose, she opened a language school in Celje, where she taught up to ten hours a day, while her spare time was spent in painting and writing.

On November 24, 1919, she took off again, this time on a nine-year-long journey around the world. She took all her money with her (around $130), a typewriter and her multi-language dictionary. Karlin therefore had to work to finance her travels, often as an interpreter or by writing about the places she visited. she was the second woman to do so, preceded by Ida Pfeiffer.

In January 1928, at the request of her dying mother, Alma Karlin returned home, herself exhausted by physical illness and deep depression. She never travelled extensively again. She devoted most of her time to writing. The books about her travels, Alone Around the World (Einsame Weltreise), published in three volumes between 1929 and 1933, were very popular and cemented her reputation. She went on lecture tours around Europe and met the artist Thea Schreiber Gammelin (or Gamelin). They became friends and Karlin described Gammelin as her "soulmate". This has been translated into German.

House in Pečovnik

In this house, at the time at 46, Pečovnik, Karlin spent the last years of her life, from June 1945 to January 14, 1950. She moved there together with Gammelin after returning from the partisan-held areas or after the confiscation of her property. Gammelin, who was the owner of the house and the former vineyard, continued to live there until her own death in 1988. Both are buried in Svetina.

In the house there is the exhibition, The Lonely Journey of Alma M. Karlin.

Publications Karlin is the author of over 40 books, novellas and articles. Some titles were published in German first, then translated into Slovenian. The English translations of titles are approximate. Some English translations have been published. She also wrote some articles in English for an English-speaking audience.

She published her most important works - biographies, novels, ethnology and theosophical works - in the first decade after her round-the-world voyage, between summer 1928 and summer 1938. Twenty-two of her books were published between 1921 and 1937 by various foundations in Germany, England, Finland and Switzerland. Some of these were reprinted; three of her most important travel books sold over 80,000 copies at the time and were translated into English, French and Finnish. Those works became very popular in Central Europe. Some of her books were illustrated by Celje painter August Friderik Seebacher and Thea Schreiber Gammelin.

Novels Malik (novel), 1932 [Malik] Samotno potovanje, 1969 [Solitary Travel] Roman o potopu celine, 1936 [A Novel on the Flood of the Continent] Moj mali Kitajec: roman iz Kitajske, 1921 [My Little Chinese: a novel from China] Mistika Južnega morja, I. del Polinezija, II. del Melanezija-Mikronezija, 1931 [Mysticism of the South Sea. Part I: Polynesia. Part II: Melanesia-Micronesia] Nabobova stranska žena, 1937 [Nabob's side wife]

Novellas Mala Siamka, 1937 [Little Siam] Najmlajši vnuk častitljivega I Čaa: novela iz Kitajske, 1948 [The youngest grandson of the venerable I Cha: a novel from China] O Joni San: Japonske novele, 2006 [Joni San - Japanese Novels]

Short stories Kupa pozabljenja: dve zgodbi, 1938 [Cup of Forgetting: Two Stories] Zmaji in duhovi, 1996 [Dragons and spirits] Mala pomlad: tri zgodbe, 1937 [Little Spring: Three Stories] Mesečeve solze: zgodba iz Peruja, 1935 [Moon Tears: The Story of Peru] Štiri dekleta v vetru usode: Zgodba z Južnega morja, 1936, 1939, 1943 [Four Girls in the Wind of Destiny: The Story of the South Sea] Svetlikanje v mraku, 1999 [Twinkling at dusk]

Travelogues Doživeti svet, 2006 [To experience the world] The odyssey of a lonely woman (London: Victor Gollancz, 1933)

Drama works Kringhausenčani: drama v treh dejanjih, 1918 [Kringhausen: Drama in Three Acts]

Other works Kot ujetnica pri lovcih na glavo na Novi Gvineji, 1960 [As a Captive in the Headhunters of New Guinea] Modri mesec, 1997 [Blue Moon] Smrtonosni trn, 2006 [Death Thorn] The death-thorn and other strange experiences in Peru and Panama (London: G. Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1934) The Death-thorn: magic, superstitions, and beliefs of urban Indians in Panama and Peru (Detroit, 1971) Angel na zemlji, 1998 [Angel on Earth] Doživeti svet, 2006 [Experiencing the World] Urok Južnega morja: tragedija neke žene (Im Banne der Sudsee), 1930, prevod Celje, Mohorjeva družba, 1996 (COBISS) [The Spell of the South Sea: The Tragedy of a Woman] Mystik der Südsee: Liebeszauber, Todeszauber, Götterglaube, seltsame Bräuche bei Geburten usw. [Mystique of the South Seas: love spells, death spells, polytheism, strange birth customs, etc.], with pen-and-ink drawings by A.F. Seebacher (Berlin: Lichterfelde Hugo Bermühler, 1931) Into-Yo-Intec, 1934 [Into-Yo-Intec] Popotne skice, 1997 [Travel Sketches] Pod košatim očesom, 1938 [Under the Bony Eye] Moji zgubljeni topoli, 2007 [My Lost Poplars] Smrtonosni trn in druge nenavadne zgodbe iz Peruja in Paname (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 2011)