Marica Nadlišek Bartol (1967–1940) was born in Trieste, where she went to primary and secondary school before she started teacher training college in Gorizia. After her graduation in 1886 she worked as a teacher in the Trieste hinterland. She was a writer and editor of the first Slovenian women’s magazine Slovenka (Slovenian Woman) and mentor to many women authors of her generation. In her novel Fatamorgana (Fata Morgana), which appeared in instalments in the literary magazine Ljubljanski zvon in 1898, she depicted different women of her time and their life stories.
“It was in October 1882 that I first got on a railway carriage and travelled to Gorizia with my father. He left as soon as he had found an apartment for me, and I had to take my entrance exam. Every subject went like a breeze; the questions they asked were much easier than what we had studied at the public school in Trieste. But German! Nothing, I could not answer a single question. They would have flunked me, had the provincial school supervisor Klodič-Sabladoski not put in a good word for me. He said I was well-versed in Slovenian and every other subject and was sure I would learn German too, if I worked hard.”