From the Heart of Europe: Anthology of Contemporary Slovenian Writing

by Texture Press

Slovenes, (the people who form ) a nation of two million in the heart of Europe, achieved independence for the first time in their long history with the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1991. Having settled in the Alps in the sixth century AD, they succeeded in preserving their language, identity and culture largely through poetry and their greatest national hero is not a general but a romantic poet. With the arrival of independent statehood and membership of the European Union and NATO, Slovenian literature has been freed of its function as the guardian of national identity and is now allowed to explore the realm of literary imagination without the former burdens of attendant duties. While not ignoring their great literary tradition of the past centuries, contemporary Slovenian authors no longer concern themselves predominantly with national issues; their writing is personal, inventive and open outward, even cosmopolitan, yet without losing its specific Central European flavor.The thirteen stories by thirteen leading Slovenian authors selected for this anthology have all it takes to make the reader turn the style, suspense, irony, dark secrets, intellectual game playing, emotional charge, human warmth, and more.

220 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2007

Reviews

[Praj · Rating 5 out of 5]

The anthology includes exceptional text of 13 renowned Slovene authors i.e.:- Milan Klec, Maja Novak, Andrej Morovic, Andrej Blatnik, Lili Potpara,et.al; each is presented with a short biography and their published work.

These assorted writings depict themes of self-confidence, self-identity, loneliness, rebellion, dysfunctional families, death and maltreatment; skirmishing untoward probabilities of life. The stories speak about various struggles, cruel judgments and prejudices that an individual faces in time. The constant mentioning of life being filled with new possibilities and experiences, demonstrates the revolting ideas of the writers encouraging readers to be fearless and seek out opportunities to liberate from the monotony and relive the novelty that life offers. Most of these stories were publish during the early 1990s, thus there was a profound focus on the ongoing socialist bureaucracy (Milosevic regulation) that permeated in the civil environment and questioning the sense of belonging.

These short stories are neither melodramatic nor has the notion of “saving the world”. Nevertheless, they are incidents of emotions experienced by ordinary people who are constantly trying to save themselves and making a difference in their humdrum lives.

This book enlightens an incredible era of contemporary Slovenian literature which due to lack of fine translators had remained quiescent and secluded.

[Rose Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting mix - liked some of these a lot more than others. Definitely a good showcase of the variety of Slovene authors out there!

[Nancy H · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an interesting collection of stories by Slovenian writers. I know very little about this country and its literature, so I was interested to read these stories and see what they held. The stories will appeal to readers who like a variety: some are dark, some are tragic, some have good endings, some do not. All of them reflect a society and a people who have come through a lot and managed to survive.

[Eric Fredrickson]

Often dark, but always insightful.