Projects / Programmes
Investigations into literary history, literary theory and methodology
January 1, 2009
- December 31, 2014
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.07.00 |
Humanities |
Literary sciences |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H390 |
Humanities |
General and comparative literature, literary criticism, literary theory |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.02 |
Humanities |
Languages and Literature |
literature, literary history, literary theory, methodology of literary science, history of Slovenian literature, comparative literature, textual scholarship, critical editions of texts and documentary material
Researchers (12)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
In this program, we approach the subject from two main perspectives: on the one hand, we are concerned with the fundamental characteristics of literature, its mode of existence, its genres and forms, functions, reception and value; on the other, the focus is on Slovenian literature and literary criticism/scholarship, and on their aesthetic, cultural and historical contexts.
The study of the older Slovenian literature is oriented towards ciritical editions of literary texts and documentary material. Through these studies we check the findings of previous researchers and open new possibilities for further, multidisciplinary research. In addition to the work on S. Zois' correspondence, other works at the forefront will be M. Pohlin's literary and philological opus (18th C.) and the Škofjeloški pasijon (The Passion of Škofja Loka, early 18th C.), the central piece of the older Slovenian dramatic opus.
As regards recent Slovenian literature, our principal subjects will be those phenomena that have not yet been presented in a suitable manner or that need to be illuminated from a different perspective i.e. reevaluated. The focus is planned to fall on love poetry, autobiographical texts and memoirs, and youth literature.
The focus of comparative literary history will be on the romantic period (with special attention paid to the self-referential aspects of poetry, self-understanding of poetic vocation and the shaping of the author's function), and modernism (with emphasis on its reception within the literary criticism and scholarship in Slovenia, and its penetration of Slovenian poetry and fiction); in addition, it will include several additional, more narrowly defined research studies.
In the field of literary theory, we plan a systematic overview of several subject areas of more recent dates. The results of our critical inspection of the main problems (e.g. literariness, the function of literature, literature and media systems, textual theory, genres, topics, style etc.) will be presented from the perspective of literary discourse.
Studies in epistemology and methodology will be concerned with the main conceptions characterizing the literay scholarship in Slovenia. These will be explained in the order of their historical appearance and in relation to corresponding developments in Europe as a whole. In addition, the study of literary evaluation in Slovenian literature will be concluded, with its final phase covering the period between the end of the 18th and the mid 19th century. The subjects under consideration will be the empirical and systemic-theoretical methods in the science of literature; the possibilities of their application will be tested on selected examples taken from literary-cultural life in Slovenia.
The set of methods used in these studies has been harmonized with the characteristics of the selected subject areas and planned goals.
In preparing critical editions, we use philological-historical and textual-critical methods. In addition, computer technologies require the elaboration of new methods and their harmonization with traditional ones, as well as a general reflection on the essence and function of literature in the light of modern theoretical understandings. Research of a predominantly literary historical character stems from empirical research of material and aims to reconstruct development processes. The study of older, functional literary works has to be conducted in cooperation with other philological-historical sciences; the study of recent artistic literature predominantly leans on literary theoretical, aesthetic and comparative historical methods. Research of a predominantly literary theoretical character includes the analysis and the interpretation of the subject, motif, style, genre and reception of these topics. Research of an epistemological-methodological character employs terminological and concept analysis, philosophical-logical and ideological-critical discussion.
Significance for science
Literary studies has already been a central humanities discipline in European and American cultural circles for an entire century. Especially historical studies of literature in particular language and cultural regions have a traditionally confirmed place among “nation-building” disciplines. In recent decades these studies have undergone an important development process because of encounters and cross-fertilization with related artistic, historical, and social disciplines: from philosophy, esthetics, criticism, and general cultural commentary come new awareness and evaluations of models, which test and grapple with new theoretical, epistemological, methodological, and axiological concepts. These processes, which encompass ever broader theme-issue and geographic-cultural regions, are reshaping the traditional role of literary studies within the humanities and social sciences, as well as in the broader cultural-historical framework. While implementing the proposed research program, the program group maintains the professional relationships it has already established with literary studies around the world, and in some key areas has established new ones. It cooperates on an equal level in treating selected current issues with wider relevance and, with detailed study of Slovenian literary material and the specific issues connected with it, it contributes its original findings to the mutual benefit of the entire profession. In addition, literary studies is beginning to transgress the borders of its own narrow subject matter, not only with normal interdisciplinary connections with related fields, but also with its attempts to open up and develop the potential interaction of various scholarly areas, from the natural sciences through the social sciences to the humanities. The opportunities for this kind of intermediary role are showing up ever more distinctly in the relatively uniformly handled phenomena with related functionality, although these belong to very different disciplines that themselves are not interconnected. Its long history of study and fundamentally segmented conceptual tools give literary studies an advantage over other disciplines in this type of treatment. In this respect the program has contributed its part to breaking down borders between linguistic, ethnic, and cultural spaces, and between scholarly disciplines and the broader area of social and cultural activity, with the development and testing of its models for transgressive conceptualization.
Significance for the country
The program is significant primarily for university-level study of literary history (national and comparative) and literary theory. Its research procedures and results are directly useful here, but indirectly they can also be applied in related humanities disciplines and also in part in secondary schools. In addition, the program is relevant to literary criticism, esthetics, cultural journalism, and book publishers for literature and the humanities – in short, for the entire literary-cultural production system. The central area of the program, literary studies, is not only an observer and researcher of literary and cultural processes in society, but also influences these processes and is an active component part of them. Therefore it is relevant for long-term cultural development from both points of view. With regard to the protection and study of national cultural heritage, the most evident significance comes from the part of the program that covers scholarly critical editions of literary texts and cultural and historical materials, as well as the infrastructural activities associated with the program that are intended to preserve and present documentary materials. The entire program is relevant with regard to this social goal, however. Literary studies in the past were valued as one of the central nation-building disciplines and performed a distinct, nationally affirmative function. In today’s historical, political, and social conditions, this function is changing. The discipline is included in the contemporary system of scholarship, so it must diligently respect academic criteria and strive to verify its findings. It is included in the division of labor in the international academic arena and, in this special segment, contributes to Slovenia’s international profile and promotion. At the same time, its central research subject, literature, is still one of the central areas that occupy discussions of national or cultural identity. The issue of its creation, maintenance, and function in the newly-shaped European community and in the increasingly globalized world have a decisive impact on cultural and social development in Slovenia at one time or another. In this context the research program is connected to many related research projects that have already been carried out and is also included in the long-term activity which is a mandated central joint task of ZRC SAZU and SAZU.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2009,
2010,
2011,
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2009,
2010,
2011,
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
