About the conference Literary Multilingualism

Literarische Mehrsprachigkeit in Österreich und Slowenien / Literarna večjezičnost v Avstriji in Sloveniji / Literary Multilingualism in Austria and Slovenia

26 & 27.04.2018, University of Graz, Meerscheinschlössl, Mozartgasse 3, 8010 Graz

Conference languages: German, Slovenian

In a global context, multilingualism is considered the rule rather than the exception. Multilingualism is also an integral part of literature and the literary world. Nevertheless, it would be presumptuous to declare a "multilingual turn" in literary studies, as is the case in educational science, for example. Although interest in the phenomenon of literary polyglossia has been steadily increasing since the 1990s, multilingualism research is far from shaking, let alone replacing, the national philological approaches that have dominated Europe since the end of the 18th century. The fact that - as Monika Schmitz-Emans has succinctly put it - there is hardly any region, country or state where literature is written exclusively in a single language does not seem to be able to change this.

The conferenceLiterary Multilingualism focuses on two such entities: Austria and Slovenia. Both are historically and currently linked by close mutual relationships and are characterized by their de facto multilingualism. Nevertheless - or perhaps precisely because of this - monolingual convictions dominate the social, cultural and political discourse in these two countries. Against this background, the examination of literary multilingualism per se points beyond the object of research, for example by undermining the idea of societies and literatures that are separated from and even in competition with one another, opening up new fields of vision and promoting exchange processes across languages and academic disciplines.

In this sense, the contributions from researchers who are institutionally based in Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria and Slovenia are intended to cover a broad range of topics from a global, (trans)national and regional perspective, which inevitably extends beyond the Austrian-Slovenian context. The discussion will range from the discussion of fundamental conceptual approaches to literary multilingualism to examples of bilingual and multilingual practices in the literature of autochthonous language minorities and migrant authors to forms of writing in exile and in the multilingual dual monarchy. Historical, innovative and subversive aspects of literary polyphony will be discussed as well as the question of the forms, functions and reception of multilingual literature, but also problem areas such as language change and language loss. The conference will conclude with an open panel discussion on the perspectives of transnational literary history(ies).

Conference brochure

The conference will also include

"Lingua franca" - the literary program for the conference: 2 countries - 3 cities - 5 readings

 

Organizer: University of Graz, Institute for Slavic Studies

Co-organizer: Institute for Slovenian Literature and Literary Theory ZRC SAZU

Organization of the conference: Andreas Leben, Claudia Mayr-Veselinović, Alenka Koron

Program

Conference / Konferenca

Literary multilingualism in Austria and Slovenia

Literarna večjezičnost v Avstriji in Sloveniji

April 26/27, 2018, University of Graz, Meerscheinschlössl, Mozartgasse 3

 

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM / ZAČASNI PROGRAM

Thursday, April 26 / Četrtek, 26. aprila

 

08:30-09:00: Arrival of participants (administrative matters) / Prihod udeležencev (administracija)

09:00-09:15: Welcome / Pozdravne besede

Dean Michael WALTER, Director Oto LUTHAR

09:15-10:45: Panel I

Marko JUVAN Enojezičnost in večjezičnost literarnih sistemov / Monolingualism and multilingualism of literary systems

Jeanne E. GLESENER What exactly are 'small literatures'? Preliminary considerations on concepts, positions and discourses / Kaj so pravzaprav 'male literature'? Preliminarni razmisleki o pojmih, stališčih in diskurzih

Erwin KÖSTLER & Andreas LEBEN Polysystem, literarisches Feld und der literarische Interaktionsraum / Polisistem, literarno polje in literarni interakcijski prostor

Coffee break / Odmor za kavo

11:00-12:30: Panel II

Dominik SRIENC How do I produce as a Slovenian author in Carinthia 2.0? On the literary self-image of recent Carinthian Slovenian literature in the field of tension between multilingualism and innovation / Kako produciram kot slovenski avtor na Koroškem 2.0? O literarnem samorazumevanju novejše koroške slovenske književnosti v napetostnem polju med večjezičnostjo in inovativnostjo

Felix KOHL Koroškoslovenski, avstrijsko-slovenski, avstrijski ali slovenski pisatelj z avstrijske Koroške? Praksa biografiranja koroškoslovenskih avtorjev pod drobnogledom / Carinthian-Slovenian, Austrian-Slovenian, Austrian or Slovenian writer from Carinthia? - A critical examination of biographical representations of Carinthian Slovenian authors

Nives ZUDIČ ANTONIČ Književnost italijanske manjšine v Sloveniji / Literature of the Italian minority in Slovenia

Lunch / Kosilo

14:30-16:00: Panel III

Miran KOŠUTA O literarnem dvojezičju slovenskih književnikov v Italiji / On the literary bilingualism of Slovenian writers in Italy

Alenka KORON Večjezičnost, večkulturnost in medkulturnost v delih Josipa Ostija in Gorana Vojnovića / Multilingualism, Multiculturalism and Interculturality in the Works of Josip Osti and Goran Vojnovića

Elena MESSNER Motor Zweisprachigkeit: Kärntner-Slowenische Kulturarbeit und der Literaturtransfer aus dem Serbokroatischen seit den 1990er Jahren / Dvojezičnost kot pogon: koroško-slovensko kulturno delo in literarni transfer iz srbohrvaščine od 1990-ih let naprej

Lingua franca

19:00 Literaturhaus Graz: Reading / Literarni večer: Mathias GRILJ, Rezka KANZIAN, Károly MÁGÓ, Samuel MAGO, Davor STOJANOVSKI, Jani OSWALD

 

Friday, April 27 / Petek, 27. aprila

10:00-11:30: Panel IV

Sandra VLASTA Literarische Mehrsprachigkeit in österreichischer Migrationsliteratur - Formen, Funktionen und Rezeption / Literarna večjezičnost v avstrijski migracijski literaturi - oblike, funkcije in recepcija

Konstantin KAISER On the exophony of Austrian authors in exile / O eksofoniji avstrijskih pisateljev in pisateljic v eksilu

Alexandra MILLNER Transdifferenz und Transkultureität in der Literatur deutschsprachiger Migrantinnen in Österreich-Ungarn / Transdiferenca in transkulturnost v literaturi nemško govorečih migrantk v Avstro-Ogrski

Coffee break / Odmor za kavo

11:45-13:15: Panel V

Round Table: Perspektiven transnationaler Literaturgeschichte(n) / Perspective transnacionalnih literarnih zgod(b)ovin

(with Marko Juvan, Klaus Kastberger, Sandra Vlasta and others)

Pictures and media reports

Pictures of the conference and the readings of the Lingua franca series can be viewed under the following link:

Photos: Agnieszka Będkowska-Kopczyk, Edith Himmelbauer, Bianca Sieberer, Dominik Srienc.

As part of the conference, Radio Agora produced three radio broadcasts in Slovenian and German, in which conference participants and organizers were interviewed. The broadcasts can be listened to in full length under the following links:

A summary of the three programs was also broadcast on Radio Helsinki as part of the "Cultures in Contact" series of the Institute for Slavic Studies and the Institute for Theoretical and Applied Translation Studies at the University of Graz.