Suchergebnisse

As a people, the Slovenes have never had their own national state. Integrated into the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slovenes have lived on a subnational level. Only Yugoslavia was recognized as an international subject and remains a member of the United Nations Organization to this day; thus, Slovenia—the homeland of Slovenes—did not enjoy the full status of a nation and the Slovene national identity was not internationally recognized until recently. Slovenes are now determined to achieve permanent recognition, no matter the cost.

This paper is in the 25th Jubilee Issue of Austrian Studies, 'Celebrations. Festkultur in Austria' from workshop at University of London, Ingeborg Bachmann Centre for Austrian Literature, Institute of Modern Languages Research / Austrian Cultural Forum, London. This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Austrian Studies and the definitive published version is available at http://www.mhra.org.uk/index.php/journals/AS

The new era of Slovene spiritual, cultural and, in a certain sense, political history, is marked by the condition of exile. The first Slovene book, printed in 1550, was written by Primož Trubar, a Protestant, emigrant and exile par excellence. Trubar and his followers translated, wrote, made plans, and worked, "for the prosperity of their homeland," in exile; therefore, the fundamental document of Judeo-Christian civilization and culture—the Holy Bible—was translated into Slovene, in exile. Books were sent to the homeland in barrels, and young people were invited to be educated at German universities. Trubar died an exile, convinced that his cause in the homeland was, if not won, at least well on the road to success.

I start instinctively as the airplane swings on its descent toward a stretch of land that is my country. A simple view from an aircraft approaching the Ljubljana airport suddenly becomes a fictitious vision of the 'memory landscape' conveyed by Dušan Kirbiš in his picture Gesichte einer Jugend (1984). Under the lowered, steel grey sky, among patches of snow-covered landscape, I catch glimpses of a dark green surface which reminds me of the woodland above the Sava river—the Kočevski rog forest or the Pohorje hillsides of dark, peaceful, impenetrable woods and sparse clearings with remote, unfriendly houses. In the coolness of this vision, the landscape of Slovenia looks both like a satellite photo and an object of fantasy.

Historical background and economic, cultural, political, and cultural perspectives; 17 articles. Contents: The contemporary scene; The historical background; The survival of a small nation.

Contemporary Slovene literature from 1950 to the present has been deeply influenced, above all, by two major factors: first, its own tradition through a century-long development, and secondly, the socio-political position of literature immediately after the Second World War. As concerns tradition, it should be noted that the beginning of literature in the Slovene language coincided with the arrival of Protestantism in the sixteenth century; only sparse religious records are known from previous centuries. This literature remained within the framework of ecclesiastical needs until the late eighteenth century, similar to those found in Lithuania, Estonia or Finland. At the end of the eighteenth century, Slovene literature began to resemble the Central European literature typical of Croatia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland. This is not only evident in the same literary trends and genres, but above all in the fact that national ideology as well as social and moral ideas acquired a significant role in its concepts.

An examination of the relationship of language & nationalism among the Slovene population of Austrian Carinthia. Four language variations are spoken in this region -- standard German, dialect German, standard Slovene, & dialect Slovene -- with both political & nonpolitical factors playing a role in the choice of language (eg, because of anti-Slovene discrimination, Slovene speakers speak to strangers in German). Here, a taxonomic framework of situational factors related to language choice is constructed, overlaid by deliberate vs automatic & political vs nonpolitical considerations, & applied to selected cases from 3 Carinthian communities: a village with a population of 800, 98% native Slovene; a town with a population of 9,000, 10% native Slovene; & Celovec/Klagenfurt with a population of 100,000, 1% Slovene. It is concluded that most deliberate language choices depend on political considerations, unless the topic is religious, & then nonpolitical factors weigh more & native Slovene is more apt to be spoken. The ethnic consciousness of the Slovenes in this area appears to be based on attitudinal influences of home, church, & school. 1 Figure. M. Pflum