Symposium Obdobja 29

CONTEMPORARY SLOVENE LITERATURE (1980-2010)

Ljubljana, 11 - 13. November 2010

REGISTRATION FORM   Guidelines for authors   Slovensko

Dear Colleague,

 
You are cordially invited to take part in the 29th Obdobja International Symposium, organised by the Centre for Slovene as a Second/Foreign Language, the Department of Slovene Studies at the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Arts, which will take place from 11 to 13 November 2010.
 
Like its predecessors, the 29th Obdobja Symposium, as the central academic gathering for Slovene Studies, has a very clear aim: to bring together domestic and foreign specialists in the fields of literary studies and linguistics, to critically evaluate their contributions in plenary lectures and thematic sections, and to place them in a wider cultural and social context. This event combines the earlier concept of the symposium, which in 1979 began to deal with the literature, language and culture of particular periods (such as the 16th century, the Baroque, the Enlightenment and the Romantic period in Slovene-speaking areas), with the newer concept, initiated in 1992, which considers research methods (e.g. historicism) as well as linguistic and literary varieties (e.g. Slovene dialects, the Slovene sonnet, the Slovene novel).
 
This symposium, entitled Contemporary Slovene Literature (1980–2010), is dedicated to the least researched area of Slovene literature – that produced between 1980 and 2010. The literature of the last thirty years is part of a wider period of contemporary Slovene literature, made up of various currents, directions, tendencies, groups, individuals and poetics, which began to be established after 1945 and more particularly after 1960. As it is the more recent decades that have seen the greatest outpouring of new literature, which is almost impossible to take in at one go, and as Obdobja 8 (1988), under the title of The Contemporary, has already surveyed Slovene literature from 1945 to 1980, it makes sense to focus on the period 1980 to 2010, which has yet to be systematically analysed. Due to the incompleteness of the period in question and, with regard to certain phenomena, the lack of temporal distance, it has been, until now, impossible to reach firm conclusions about the characteristics of contemporary Slovene literature. For this reason, the 29th Obdobja Symposium represents an ideal opportunity for initial or further research into the recommended areas and themes.
 
The contemporary Slovene literature of the last thirty years falls within the wider socio-cultural phenomenon of postmodern age, which is characterised by eclecticism. Slovene literature at the end of the 20th century and the start of the 21st is thus not a unified entity, as it contains different literary tendencies, such as modernism and postmodernism, and is marked by syncretism of varieties, types, genres, forms, methods, styles and poetics, among which, in recent years, has prevailed the realistic technique or method. Although certain literary tendencies have gradually faded, they still appear as a reflection of various procedures and typical features, sunk in the shifting border between quality (artistic) and trivial literature, and the reawakened interest in certain genres, models, formulae and literary effects. Contemporary Slovene literature from 1980 to 2010 can be seen as a rich and incomplete process influenced by major political and social shifts, such as independence, statehood, transition, Europeanisation, globalisation, digitalisation and the Internet. In recent years national identity has given way to individual identity and with it a new emotionality, filtered through the spiritual spleen of the postmodern subject, reflected in New Age hedonism. In spite of the richness of different individual poetics this new emotionality can be seen as the common denominator of Slovene literature at the turn of the millennium, which is connected with the construction of the personal as opposed to the collective, but also with the manner and direction of literary sentiment, towards which an ironic, cynical and parodic distance is maintained.
 
Thanks to the relatively short time period involved, research into contemporary Slovene literature could be seen as clear and straightforward, but because of the hyperactive production and number of new approaches in the past thirty years it is rather complex and academically challenging. The hybridisation of varieties, types, genres, styles, models and forms which it brings to the contemporary or modified traditional literary work needs to be considered from different literary-historical, theoretical-interpretative and stylistic points of view, enriched with sociological, anthropological, cultural-historical and other modes of understanding from the humanities. This is particularly the case when examining the current role and significance of Slovene literature in the context of world literature, at a time when bells lettres is completely marginalised, while the reader of literature is being transformed into a searcher for online information. As the individual, thanks to the media's take on reality, is ever more feverishly seeking his or her own identity in literature, contemporary Slovene literature also poses questions about relations between identity and otherness. With regard to this, it is interesting to look once more at literary axiology or the different values that literature itself offers, and above all at how to determine literary quality in relation to the criteria of literariness and triviality. 
 
In commenting on the whole process of literary communication that flows from the author through the literary product to the reader in contemporary literature it is particularly important to emphasise and pay more attention to the reader. Reception theory can help us find answers to questions such as: who is the reader of contemporary Slovene literature, why and how does s/he read, on what does his/her understanding depend and how is the text received through ongoing reflection on contemporary literature? Mediation of literature to the reader works most systematically through institutionalised teaching. As the teaching of contemporary Slovene literature differs from that of traditional literature, contributions will be welcome on effective methods of reading, interpreting and teaching. As today's consumerism and free trade model tends to emphasise literary production rather than reflection on literature, this symposium offers a wonderful opportunity to reconsider ways and means of literary reflection, both synchronic and diachronic, but particularly a critical re-evaluation of the role of literary journals, newspapers, and television channels and programmes. 
 
This period is characterised not only by new thematic and formal aspects but also by linguistic and stylistic ones, so the teaching of contemporary Slovene literature, both in the recent past and now, is inextricably linked with analysis of the linguistic and stylistic characteristics of the literary work. The identification of stylistic elements as expressions of linguistic possibilities, the poetics of the age and of the individual is the most sensible approach to the text itself, as well as to the literary effects of these elements. A contribution to the overall evaluation of literature is also made by an exploration of multi-directional literary communication, in other words the translation of contemporary Slovene works into foreign languages – not only analysis of the role and significance of contemporary Slovene literature within Slavic literature and the wider European context, but also its presence in the form of translations within the world literary sphere.
 
The 29th Obdobja International Symposium on Slovene Studies entitled Contemporary Slovene Literature (1980–2010) aims to explore the varieties, types and genres of contemporary Slovene literature, but at the same time to analyse the cultural, socio-political and spiritual-intellectual horizons that are reflected in literature as a multi-layered phenomenon that helps to create personal, cultural and national identity. 
 
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alojzija Zupan Sosič
President of the 29th Obdobja Symposium
 

THEMES AND RESEARCH TOPICS

  • The role and significance of contemporary Slovene literature from 1980 to 2010 as a complex of different currents, directions, tendencies, groups, individuals and poetics in a wider social and cultural context;
  • the relationship between individual, national and cultural identity in contemporary Slovene literature and the place of literature in contemporary Slovene art;
  • contacts between contemporary Slovene literature and other Slavic literatures, and contemporary Slovene literature in the context of world literature;
  • varieties, types and genres of contemporary Slovene literature: researching, in the context of three basic varieties (poetic, narrative, dramatic), literary types such as the sonnet, the poem, the short story, the novel, the drama, comedy, etc. and genres such as short travel prose, the anti-utopian novel, the radio play, etc., as well as their hybridity; 
  • the contemporary literary text and other media, e.g. stagings of dramas, adaptations of texts as radio plays or film scenarios and the setting to music of literary works;
  • the reception of, reflection on and evaluation of contemporary Slovene literature;
  • the teaching of contemporary Slovene literature: ways, methods and principles in primary, secondary and tertiary education;
  • contemporary Slovene literature outside Slovenia: the literary work of Slovenes in neighbouring countries and of Slovene emigrants as a fundamental and central (not marginal or secondary) part of Slovene literature;
  • contemporary Slovene children's and youth literature;
  • the identification of stylistic elements in contemporary Slovene literary texts as expressions of linguistic possibilities, the poetics of the age and of the individual, and the structural and thematic characteristics of the text;
  • the role and significance of translations of contemporary Slovene literature into foreign languages;
  • critical re-evaluation of the role of literary journals, newspapers, and television channels and programmes;
  • publishing, distribution and promotion of contemporary Slovene literature.

VENUE

University of Ljubljana (main building, 1st floor), Kongresni trg 12, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

REGISTRATION AND SUBMISSION OF PAPERS

This year, once again, the proceedings will be printed before the symposium.
 
Until 25 March 2010 registration will be via the symposium website www.centerslo.net/simpozij (Symposium Obdobja 29, Registration Form).
 
The deadline for the submission of papers in the prescribed electronic format (6-10 pages, up to 20,000 characters with spaces, including bibliography and notes) is 25 May 2010. Participants will receive the format guidelines for their paper via e-mail. The guidelines will also be published on the symposium website.
 
All contributions will be peer reviewed prior to publication; participants will be informed about the outcome by 21 July 2010 at the latest.
 
Final versions of papers must be submitted by 1 September 2010.
 
1 September 2010 is also the deadline for the payment of the registration fee.
 
Please take careful note of the deadlines for registration and submission of papers, as the electronic system does not allow for late registrations or submissions.

REGISTRATION FEE

The fee for taking part and presenting a paper is 60 EUR and includes a folder containing symposium material, the publication of the paper, the symposium proceedings, the accompanying programme, lunches and event organisation. You will be sent an invoice via e-mail and you can pay it through a bank, post office or to the cashier at the Faculty of Arts, Aškerčeva 2 in Ljubljana, every day between 11.00 and 13.00 and on Wednesday also between 15.00 and 17.00.

PRESENTATION OF PAPERS

The time allowed for the presentation of a paper is limited to 15 minutes. The working languages of the plenary sessions will be Slovene and English, while in thematic sections the use of other languages is possible upon agreement with the organiser.

ACCOMMODATION

Participants must book and cover the cost of accommodation themselves. Addresses of Ljubljana hotels are provided below. The symposium committee has available limited funds to cover the cost of accommodation, for which foreign participants may apply at registration.

IMPORTANT DATES

  • Registration for the symposium                                25 March 2010
  • Submission of the paper (6-10 pages)                          25 May 2010
  • Notification of the referees' evaluation                          21 July 2010
  • Submission of the final version of the paper         1 September 2010
  • Payment of the registration fee                           1 September 2010
  • Symposium                                               11–13 November 2010

Symposium president

Alojzija Zupan Sosič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta

Programme committee

Tine Germ, Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta
Miran Hladnik, Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta
Niko Jež, Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta
Marko Juvan, ZRC SAZU, Inštitut za slovensko literaturo in literarne vede
Zvonko Kovač, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Filozofski fakultet, Zagreb
Boža Krakar Vogel, Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta
Andrej Leben, Universität Wien, Philologisch-Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultät
Katja Mihurko Poniž, Univerza v Novi Gorici, Fakulteta za humanistiko
Irena Novak Popov, Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta
Darja Pavlič, Univerza v Mariboru, Filozofska fakulteta
Mateja Pezdirc Bartol, Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta
Miha Pintarič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta
Julija A. Sozina, RAN, Institut slavianovedeniya, Moskva
, Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta
Đurđa Strsoglavec, Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta
Bożena Tokarz, Uniwersytet Śląski, Instytut Filologii Słowiańskiej, Katovice

Symposium organisation

Technical editor of symposium publications

Mateja Lutar
     [email protected], +386 (0)1 241 86 49

HOTELS

Hotel Emonec**
Wolfova 12, Ljubljana
Tel.: +386 (0)1 200 15 20
Fax: +386 (0)1 200 15 21
Distance from the University: 5 min
 
Gostilna s prenočišči PRI MRAKU***
Rimska cesta 4, Ljubljana
Tel.: +386 (0)1 421 96 00
Fax: +386 (0)1 421 96 55
Website: www.daj-dam.si
Distance from the University: 3–4 min
 
City Hotel Ljubljana***
Dalmatinova 15, Ljubljana
Tel.: +386 (0)1 239 00 00
Fax: +386 (0)1 239 00 01
Distance from the University: 15 min
 
Hotel Park***
Tabor 9, Ljubljana
Tel.: +386 (0)1 300 25 00
Fax: +386 (0)1 433 05 46
Distance from the University: 15–20 min
 
Hotel Slon****
Slovenska 34, Ljubljana
Tel.: +386 (0)1 470 11 00
Fax: +386 (0)1 251 71 64
Distance from the University: 5 min

 

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