Projects / Programmes
What good is Latin to socialism? - Classical tradition in Slovenia and the class struggle (1945-1990) in the Yugoslav and Central-European context
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.07.00 |
Humanities |
Literary sciences |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H450 |
Humanities |
Latin literature |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.02 |
Humanities |
Languages and Literature |
reception of classical literature, Latin, Greek, educational systems in Central Europe, classical tradition in Slovenia, class struggle, history of communism, history of ideas, intellectual history
Researchers (1)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
23443 |
PhD David Movrin |
Literary sciences |
Head |
2011 - 2013 |
213 |
Organisations (1)
Abstract
“What good is Latin to socialism?”
(Miško Kranjec, Sparrows in the Yard, 1962)
Reaching beyond the boundaries of literature, the project aims to provide the first comprehensive overview of what happened to the field of classics in Slovenia after WW2, focusing on comparison with the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc – and particularly Yugoslavia – between 1945 and 1990. Classical tradition in the region underwent a substantial change while adapting to the new political context – yet the consequences of this change remain almost entirely unexplored. Slovenian example was among the most revealing; between 1945–49, no less than 95% of classicists in state schools had to “reorient” themselves towards teaching of other subjects. A thaw followed after the Cominform crisis, only to face another glacial epoch in the 1970s. This was eventually dispelled by the late 1980s. These events were highly consequential for the reception of classical literature and culture, yet remain amost entirely unreflected.
The immediate objectives of the project will be:
– creation of a prosopographical database with biographies of major classicists;
– formation of oral-history collection of testimonies with authorised transcripts;
– edition and digitization of of selected sources;
– organisation of an international conference and publication of its proceedings;
– establishing of a web-page where the results will be made available;
– publication of a scholarly monograph on classical tradition in Slovenia (1945–1990).
Published research on the history of classics during the communist period shines with its absence. Rare exceptions to this rule are usually weak regarding documentation and thus often problematic; major studies dealing with the topic pay only tangential attention to developments in the region. Consequently, the field represents a growing research area. A groundbreaking international project entitled “Gnothi seauton – Classics and Communism,” funded by Thyssen Stiftung and carried out by Collegium Budapest – Institute for Advanced Study in 2010, where I recently took part as a visiting researcher (cf. www.colbud.hu), has provided the first mapping of the status quaestionis. Its concluding conference in Budapest, convened by Jerzy Axer, György Karsai, and Gábor Klaniczay, was attended by 27 scholars from all across Europe, underlining the scholarly significance of this theme. Scholars were surprised by the richness of archival material from Slovenia and by its international relevance, based on the peculiar situation of Yugoslavia and its relationship towards both Eastern and Western Bloc. – The potential of this topic can be seen in a neighbouring field where investigation of similar issues is already far advanced. While classical tradition in the former “people’s democracies” has only recently become a hot research topic, the issue of classics in both Italy and Germany before the WW2 is already well examined.
Due to its complexity, the project will be conducted in close interdisciplinary collaboration, with advisory board and associate researchers constituted from classicists and archaeologists as well as scholars from other relevant fields – such as history of education, history of totalitarianism, and intellectual history.
Significance for science
Little research has been conducted in this field, making the project novel and contributing to the development of the discipline almost by definition. Among the methods that make its strategy stand out from the intermittent previous attempts are the following: – utilisation of the archives never previously used for the history of classical literature and its reception – including the archives of the Communist Party, secret police, and state ministries; – constant analysis of the findings in the international context, looking for the influences that go beyond the local decision-makers and represent a larger ideological trend; – instant digitisation of the sources, with top-of-the-range equipment for archival work; while classics have enjoyed major advances with the digitisation of its literary and archeological sources in the recent decade, digitising comparatively recent material relevant for the reception is still a largely unexplored field, particularly in the region discussed; – project webpage www.classics.si with a password-protected interface to enable real-time collaboration among researchers from different countries; – oral-history testimonies, with state-of-the-art standards regarding sound quality, data protection, text transcription, and archival storage.
Significance for the country
Wer sich nicht bewegt, spürt seine Fesseln nicht. Those who do not move, do not notice their chains. (Rosa Luxemburg) Since the thorny relationship between classical tradition and the communist authorities has been investigated, a formative layer of European culture and its peculiar history in the period, incisively analysed by Tony Judt as “Postwar,” has come to focus of both classicists and modern historians as well as scholars from other fields in the humanities and the general public. A considerable body of primary sources has been gathered and made available through the project, allowing several other disciplines to draw their own comparisons and conclusions, identifying – mutatis mutandis – the influence which the ideology exerted over their own respective fields. The intellectual landscape upon which the discipline of classics was based in the second half of the twentieth century all around Central and Eastern Europe – and which influenced its present circumstances, concerns, and status – was politically controlled and conditioned; that is, of course, a truism. Yet the exact nature and extent of this conditioning and the examples of its continuity remained virtually untouched by the research. Moreover, the metaphorical “chains,” to quote Rosa Luxemburg from the motto above, were sometimes not perceived, due to lack of action. Indeed the relevance of her words extends beyond the boundaries of the discipline, pertaining to the several fields within the humanities and to several segments of the society as such. The cultural loss caused by this inactivity is to a certain extent irreparable. Since the archives are incomplete and evidence was sometimes destroyed on purpose, oral history remains an essential source of information. Yet the witnesses that are still ready to testify are not getting any younger. During the preparation for the project I conducted and recorded some tentative interviews, to gauge both the potential and the feasibility of the undertaking. One of the witnesses, Mrs Zorka Bradač, whom I interviewed in March 2010 and who was kind enough to share a substantial amount of her knowledge and experience, died only four months later, aged 94 – an event which dramatically underlined the sense of urgency regarding this particular project. Some of the knowledge lost this way may never be recovered again – and the memory which can still be gathered at this point deserves both the respect for its endurance and the effort needed for its preservation. The project provided a framework for creation and exchange of scholarship within the region, establishing and re-establishing contacts that used to flourish before the disintegration of Yugoslavia but have lost much of their importance since then. The disappearance of cold-war academic institutions – such as Eirene and its congresses – has resulted in a breakdown of communications which will take some time to repair. The structure of this particular project and its links with the international community of classicists involved in similar research has led to cross-fertilisation of experience, providing the society with an impact of supra-national relevance.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2011,
2012,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2011,
2012,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
