Louis Adamic and Vatro Grill: a partnership of equals?

Abstract

In 1956 Anton Melik, Professor of Geography at the University of Ljubljana, published a travelogue Amerika in ameriska Slovenija (America and American Slovenia). The author points out in his "notes" the pride of American people regarding their ·achievements, social and racial antagonisms which exist in the United States, and the fate of Slovene immigrants who must have found it difficult "to establish for themselves an equal position with other immigrants and old settlers due to their insufficient education and lack of knowledge of English".' A large part of Melik's book is devoted to his encounters with American Slovenes. Among them he also mentions his conversations with Vatro Gril, who knew Louis Adamic well and was a close friend of his. Melik says that Adamic and Grill were members of the same generation, they even attended the same secondary school in Ljubljana and they left for America in the same year, in 1913. When they met they discovered that they had the same or very similar views upon problems Slovene immigrants had in America. Melik also suggests that when a book is going to be written about Louis Adamic, Grill is the right person to contribute to it.