|
|
in this issue
SLOVENIA IN PRAGUE 05
Slovenia: guest of honour at the International Prague Book Fair, 5-8 May 2005
It would be hard to imagine a better showcase for Slovenian literarature than the Prague International Book Fair. Literary and cultural ties between Slovenia and the Czech Republic date back to the days of Ivan Cankar (1876-1918), Vladimir Bartol (1903-1967), and literary historian Oton Berkopec (1906-1988), who spent most of his life in Prague where he compiled two anthologies of Slovene poetry in Czech, the first comprehensive presentations of Slovene literature in a foreign language.
Slovene-Czech literary ties continue to thrive. After Croatian, Czech is the language into which most Slovene literature is translated, an average of five books a year. But Slovenian literature is looking further afield today. Since Slovenia became an independent state in 1991, Slovene literature has gained worldwide recognition. More than sixty contemporary Slovene authors have been published in various languages. Tomaz Salamun, Drago Jancar and Ales Debeljak boast over thirty titles in translation each.
Slovene culture has also made its mark in other fields: the philosophy of Slavoj Zizek, the music of composer Vinko Globokar, the singing of Marjana Lipovsek, the visual art of Marjetica Potrc, and the architecture of Joze Plecnik (1872-1957) who worked in Ljubljana and Prague. In a gesture to the richness of Slovenian culture as a whole, literary events in Prague will be accompanied by exhibitions, concerts, films, street theatre performances, and poetry readings. Visit THE PRAGUE BOOKFAIR for details.
It is sometimes said that Slovenia is a state born of the spirit of poetry. This spirit, which, in the words of the poet Srecko Kosovel (1904-1926), `knows neither victory nor defeat´, will visit Prague in early May. We hope to see you there!
© University of Wales, Aberystwyth 2002-2009
site by
CHL