The article deals with numerous interpretations of works of Ivan Cankar, who occupies an honorable place in the canon of the Slovenian literature. We put under the scrutiny the intensive reception of Cankar, not only within Slovenia and Yugoslavia, but also in the Soviet Union and Russia. Many research works have been written about Cankar, while his texts still evoke completely heterogeneous interpretations and reactions of readers (from enthusiastic to extremely negative). Various research methods are used in the works about Cankar’s writings: historical and biographical method, immanent analysis, close reading, method of system analysis, comparative, cultural, psychological and psychoanalytic method, reading against the grain, sociological method, the method of feminist criticism etc. The figure of the mother occupies a central place in the Cankar’s works, therefore there is no coincidence that the theme of the mother in the Cankar’s texts has attracted many researchers, while it gets a completely different interpretation. The specificity of some of his works was manifested in a combination of aestheticism, ethical issues and the modernist memory problem. When reading the story, one can perceive it from a purely aesthetic point of view, enjoying the rhythmic language of the narrative, think about memory problems and experience emotions as well. Cankar’s writings often generate anxiety in the reader, while opening the endless potential of new meanings. His works have wide interpretative potential, and some of his texts are superior to any interpretive efforts.