Slovene literature in the Central European area and the position of the other

Abstract

Članek obravnava položaj slovenske književnosti v srednjeevropskem prostoru z vidika drugega in drugačnega. Slovenci smo v preteklosti živeli v delih držav, v katerih smo imeli podrejen in nepriznan nacionalni status, podobno kot nekateri drugi srednjeevropski narodi. Pisanje v slovenščini je pomenilo odločitev za »položaj drugega«, kar je pomenilo manjvrednega in intelektualno nezadostnega. Ko pa se je slovenska književnost vzpostavila, je status drugačnosti v slovenskem prostoru dobilo npr. nemško pisanje. V sodobnem času se uveljavlja spoznanje o tem, da moramo v literarni zgodovini upoštevati tudi dela vseh tistih, ki so na Slovenskem ustvarjali v drugih jezikih. V literarni kanon tako vključujemo tudi ustvarjalce in ustvarjalke s t. i. dvojnimi literarnimi in jezikovnimi identitetami.

The article deals with the position of Slovenian literature in Central Europe in terms of its treatment of the Other and the Different. In the past, Slovenians lived in regions of other nation states and their status was subordinate and unacknowledged, which was also a situation experienced by other Central European peoples. In such a situation, writing in the Slovenian language meant a decision to occupy the “position of the other”, generally considered inferior and intellectually inadequate. When Slovenian literature became established, this status of difference was ascribed to German writing, for example. In contemporary times, there has been a conscious decision to recognise writers in Slovenian who write in other languages and incorporate their work in our literary history. The Slovenian literary canon must begin to include writers with so-called dual literary and linguistic identity.