Studies in Literary History, Literary Theory and Methodology

Using both traditional and contemporary methods, this research programme examines the theory and history of literary discourse, particularly in the Slovenian cultural space. Based on textual criticism, cultural history, semiotics, systemic approaches, theoretical psychoanalysis, sociology and a corpus linguistic approach to literature, the intrinsic traits of literature and its socio-historical context are analysed. To this end, the programme applies the tools of digital humanities, particularly stylometry and corpus analysis. Literary processes are explained against the background of language, other art forms, religion, philosophy, science, politics and economy. Literary texts and literary culture are interpreted in the contexts of national, regional and world history. Work on the history of Slovenian literature from the Middle Ages to the present can rely on our electronic text corpora, geo-referenced databases, repositories of manuscript and print sources and their digital and printed scholarly editions. The approach to national literature is comparative in nature, as it is tailored to a space at the crossroads of the Mediterranean and Central and South-Eastern Europe. Within that space, the literature of the Middle Ages, the Reformation, the Baroque and the Enlightenment is studied in its multilingualism, its continuities, its functional syncretism and its social differentiation. While the focus of research on the influence of European cultural nationalism on Slovenian literature has now shifted to narrative prose around and after 1900, research on nineteenth-century and modern poetry will be rounded out by a synthetic historical survey. Work on the literary canon, censorship, life writing and mountaineering prose will continue as well. In addition to the historical avant-gardes of the twentieth century, attention will be given to modernist tendencies and the working-class fiction of the interwar period. Further work will be done on the connections between the transformative politics from 1968–1989, neo- and post-avant-gardes and alternative culture. Analyses of the Slovenian periphery will be upgraded by a focus on the interaction of Slovenian literature with the literary world-system, particularly with other literatures in the post-imperial or post-colonial situations. The research programme is indispensable for conducting long-term and interdisciplinary teamwork and for pursuing international cooperation. Research results will be disseminated within the international scholarly community as well as the general public. They will be incorporated into undergraduate and postgraduate study programmes, scholarly publications, and critical editions of Slovenian literary texts. In addition, these results will be disseminated through a variety of public events, international conferences and public lectures, including the Institute’s website.