Slovenian literature and minority culture

From a primarily transcultural and polysystemic perspective, this research context deals with phenomena and forms of autobiographical writing, literary multilingualism, micro-processes of literary consecration as well as questions of literary mediation and translation history. Both Central Slovenian literature and the literary practice of language minorities and authors who have emigrated or immigrated to the Slovenian linguistic and cultural area and their position in the literary system are subject to research. The field of research maintains a long-standing cooperation with the Institute for Slovenian Literature and Literary Studies at the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences (ZRC SAZU). 

For some time now, multilingualism on and behind the stage has been a central, albeit still little researched, feature of Slovenian theatre work in Carinthia/Koroška, which covers an immensely diverse spectrum from children's, youth and puppet theatre to music and dance theatre. Through continuous work with upcoming generations, individual projects, collaborations and newly founded theatre initiatives as well as a number of professional actors in areas such as acting, directing, scenography, dance, music and cultural management, these activities are not only an integral part of the current Carinthian theatre scene, but also emit into the Austrian and Slovenian theatre landscape. The phenomena and framework conditions associated with this are examined from a theoretical-conceptual as well as empirical-praxeological perspective, with a focus on the constant changes in the theatre of the Slovenian minority. The research area cooperates with the Academy for Theatre, Radio, Film and Television of the University of Ljubljana (AGRFT UL) and provided the impetus for the founding of the online platform SLOGED.

The period and consequences of National Socialism are not only an exceedingly productive area of literary, artistic, journalistic and academic enquiry, but also the subject of numerous cultural memory activities and initiatives in Carinthia/Koroška. The research area is dedicated in particular to the memory narratives and literary or artistic representations of resistance against National Socialism as well as the associated concepts of traditional, antagonistic, dialogical, translational and emancipatory memory culture.

Selected publications:

Andrej Leben: V borbi smo bile enakopravne. Uporniške ženske na Koroškem v letih 1939-1955. Klagenfurt/Celovec: Drava, 2003.

Andreas Leben: Der Partisanenkampf im Spiegel slowenischer und deutschsprachiger Literatur. In: Hajnalka Nagy, Werner Wintersteiner (eds.): Erinnern – Erzählen – Europa. Das Gedächtnis der Literatur. Innsbruck: Studienverlag, 2015, 138–152 (Schriftenreihe Literatur des Instituts für Österreichkunde 27).

Andrej Leben: Koroške (slovenske) vojne pripovedi med reprezentacijo in diskurzom. Primerjalna književnost, 38:3, 2015, 121-138.

Andreas Leben: Female Characters in (Memorial) Literature about the Partisan Resistance in Carinthia. In: Elena Messner, Cristina Beretta, Goran Lazičić, Markus Gönitzer (eds.): Women and Partisan Art. Aesthetics and Practices of Resistance in Yugoslavia and Carinthia, Bielefeld: transcript, 2025. (in print) 

The internal research database BILIT goes back to the FWF project ‘The bilingual literary practice of Carinthian Slovenes after the discontinuation of mladje (1991) and their position in the supra-regional literary interaction’, which was realised from 2016 to 2018 and has since been continued in some areas. The database includes bibliographical entries on individual literary publications and translations as well as publications in around 60 Austrian, Slovenian and Italian literary and cultural journals, which were analysed for the period under investigation. In addition to the relevant research literature and other printed and electronic sources, the data collection contains interviews with actors from the fields of science, literature, translation, publishing, journalism, event management, theatre and music. The most important entries have been systematically analysed and indexed. Access to the database for research purposes is available on request.

• Urh Ferlež: Looking Backwards in Space, Looking Backwards in Time – the Image of the Homeland in the Works of Selected Slovene Émigré Writers
• Felix Kohl: Reflexionen von Identität und Vergangenheit in neueren slowenischen Romanen
• Klasja Zala Kovačič (University of Ljubljana): Govorjene različice slovenščine v gledališču na primeru izbranih predstav SNG Drama / Spoken Varieties of the Slovenian Language in Theatre with Reference to Selected SNT Drama Productions
• Claudia Mayr Veselinović: Politik, Identität, Kultur: Die Bedeutung der "YU"-Musik vom Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts bis heute
• Douglas Carlton McKnight (Georgetown University): Persecution and Resistance: The Carinthian Slovenes and Memories of the Second World War, awarded the Herbert Steiner Prize
• Milan Obid (University of Klagenfurt): Stigma-Kapital-Symbol. Über die soziale Relevanz der Zugehörigkeit zur slowenischen Minderheit in Kärnten
• Dominik Srienc (University of Klagenfurt): Im "Wörterholz". Zur Geste des literarischen Schreibens bei Florjan Lipuš, awarded the Prize of the Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Slovenes Abroad

Further graduation theses:

• Monika Podlogar (University of Ljubljana): Novejša slovenska poezija na avstrijskem Koroškem (Neuere slowenische Lyrik im österreichischen Teil Kärntens), awarded the Nahtigal Prize of the Faculty of Philosophy of he University of Ljubljana

OeAD Summer College Literary Translation (Slovenian-German, German-Slovenian) in Premuda