SLOVENE LITERATURE

literature of the Slovenes, a South Slavic people of the northwestern Balkans. The earliest extant examples of the Sloveneand perhaps of any Slaviclanguage have been preserved in the remarkable Brizinski spomeniki (Freising manuscripts; c. 1000). During the medieval period there also flourished, as throughout the Balkans, a rich folk poetry. The advent of Protestantism encouraged the flowering of a Slovene religious literature, especially with the publication in 1584 of a translation of the Bible by Jurij Dalmatin. Concurrently, Adam Bohoric published the first Slovene grammar. The European Romantic movement and its accompanying nationalism encouraged philological and literary works and influenced Slovene intellectuals in the first half of the 19th century. Jernej Kopitar initiated early attempts to standardize and codify the Slovene language. In the 1830s and '40s Matija Cop was active in publishing literary works and literary periodicals in Slovenia. The greatest poet of the early 19th century was France Preeren, who established a literary Slovene language capable of conveying nuances of thought and feeling in a modern idiom. The first Slovene novel, Deseti brat (The Tenth Brother) by Josip Jurcic, was published in 1866. During the later 19th century, Slovene writers began to reflect western European styles and trends, and publishing and other facilities were established to promote a national literature and language. The emergence of a Slovene modernist movement in the early 20th century resulted in a second flowering of literature in the works of Oton Zupancic, a vigorous poet, and Ivan Cankar (Hlapec Jernej in njegova pravica [1907; The Bailiff Yerney and His Rights]; and Hia Marije pomocnice [1904; The Ward of Our Lady of Mercy]), a masterful prose stylist. After World War I, social and spiritual tension was evident in the predominantly Expressionist poetry of Tone Selikar, Miran Jarc, and Anton Vodnik, as well as in the plays of Slavko Grum. The novel and short story were revived during the 1930s, a decade marked by the appearance of Socialist Realism, especially in the works of Ju Kozak, Miko Kranjec, Ciril Kosmac, and Prezihov Voranc (Samorastniki [1940; The Self-Sown]), who turned to the everyday life of simple country people. The freer metres of Edvard Kocbek pointed the way to magically interpreted reality, and the caustic sonnets of Bozo Voduek manifested a sober disillusionment. During and after World War II, writers who had been active before it remained rooted in the realistic tradition, although many deepened or broadened the scope of their themes. This was particularly true of the poet and dramatist Matej Bor (el je popotnik skozi atomski vek [1958; A Wanderer in the Atomic Age]), as well as the prose writers and dramatists Ivan Potrc and Mira Mihelic. Later developments in prose included, under Western influence, the appearance of science fiction by such writers as Miha Remec. Poetry maintained its deeply subjective expression in the work of Cene Vipotnik, France Balantic, and especially Joze Udovic. This trend was continued in the verses of the next generation, represented by Veno Taufer, Valentin Cundric, and Dane Zajc.