Page 249 - Marcello Potocco, Nacionalni imaginariji, literarni imaginariji, Dissertationes 20
P. 249
Summary
the context of the common Canadian framework. According to some
comparatists (Blodgett), this context is available to the comparative re-
search on its differing discourses and literary traditions. The situation
in Canada is compared to similar attempts in Slovenian literary history
and is analysed with reference to works by Josip Vidmar, Dušan Pirjevec
and Dimitrij Rupel, as well as France Kidrič and Ivan Prijatelj.
The analysis of intertwined factors in the political, social and liter-
ary spheres is concluded with a chapter that tries to define the causes for
a particularly strong presence of national interpellation in the Canadian
and Slovenian literary systems. The lack of diversified political and cul-
tural institutions has long since been acknowledged as one of the main
factors for such a development in Slovenia (e.g. by D. Pirjevec). Potocco
shows that national interpellation in literature as well as in literary his-
tory has weakened with the diversification of cultural institutions (in-
cluding the national broadcasting system) in Canada in the years fol-
lowing 1957, and with the Slovenian assimilation of the ex-Austrian in-
stitutions after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The school sys-
tem played a central role in this process. In Canada, the school system
followed British or French sources and didactic materials prior to the
1960s and 1970s, while the 1970s saw a rapid rise in the use of Canadi-
an materials. In Slovenia, language policy was one of the main points
of contention. Although the status of Slovenian language had gradu-
ally improved, the total Slovenisation of the school system – including
the didactic materials – became possible only in the Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes. The third factor determining the national inter-
pellation was in both cases a relatively conservative publishing market
(along with a conservative horizon of expectation), while in Canada, it
was also material factors that favoured the publication of foreign books.
In the framework of these factors, Potocco analyses two characteristic
texts of didactic national patriotism – the sonnet “Canada speaks of
Britain” by Charles G.D. Roberts, and the ode “Slovenja presvitlimu,
premilostljivimu gospodu in cesarju Ferdinandu Pervimu ob veselim
dohodu njih veličanstva v Ljubljano” by Jovan Vesel Koseski. Both are
shown as examples of non-radical, loyalist cultural nationalism which
was – at least in Canadian literary history – often designated with the
term »colonial mentality«.
The third part of the book is dedicated to the study of English Ca-
nadian poetry in view of its implicit or explicit national interpellation.
The study focuses on selected examples of the so called »long poem«
or »documentary poem«, a genre that is most suitable for ideological
the context of the common Canadian framework. According to some
comparatists (Blodgett), this context is available to the comparative re-
search on its differing discourses and literary traditions. The situation
in Canada is compared to similar attempts in Slovenian literary history
and is analysed with reference to works by Josip Vidmar, Dušan Pirjevec
and Dimitrij Rupel, as well as France Kidrič and Ivan Prijatelj.
The analysis of intertwined factors in the political, social and liter-
ary spheres is concluded with a chapter that tries to define the causes for
a particularly strong presence of national interpellation in the Canadian
and Slovenian literary systems. The lack of diversified political and cul-
tural institutions has long since been acknowledged as one of the main
factors for such a development in Slovenia (e.g. by D. Pirjevec). Potocco
shows that national interpellation in literature as well as in literary his-
tory has weakened with the diversification of cultural institutions (in-
cluding the national broadcasting system) in Canada in the years fol-
lowing 1957, and with the Slovenian assimilation of the ex-Austrian in-
stitutions after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The school sys-
tem played a central role in this process. In Canada, the school system
followed British or French sources and didactic materials prior to the
1960s and 1970s, while the 1970s saw a rapid rise in the use of Canadi-
an materials. In Slovenia, language policy was one of the main points
of contention. Although the status of Slovenian language had gradu-
ally improved, the total Slovenisation of the school system – including
the didactic materials – became possible only in the Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes. The third factor determining the national inter-
pellation was in both cases a relatively conservative publishing market
(along with a conservative horizon of expectation), while in Canada, it
was also material factors that favoured the publication of foreign books.
In the framework of these factors, Potocco analyses two characteristic
texts of didactic national patriotism – the sonnet “Canada speaks of
Britain” by Charles G.D. Roberts, and the ode “Slovenja presvitlimu,
premilostljivimu gospodu in cesarju Ferdinandu Pervimu ob veselim
dohodu njih veličanstva v Ljubljano” by Jovan Vesel Koseski. Both are
shown as examples of non-radical, loyalist cultural nationalism which
was – at least in Canadian literary history – often designated with the
term »colonial mentality«.
The third part of the book is dedicated to the study of English Ca-
nadian poetry in view of its implicit or explicit national interpellation.
The study focuses on selected examples of the so called »long poem«
or »documentary poem«, a genre that is most suitable for ideological
