How the “formula” of success has changed: Slovenian bestsellers of the 2010s. “Čefurji raus!” by G. Vojnović and “Belo se pere na devetdeset” by B. Žakelj

Abstract

In the article, in the context of the studing the problems of Slovenian book market and the sociology of “consumption” of book publications are presented two novels of the 2010s: “Čefurji raus!” (2008) by G. Vojnović and “Belo se pere na devetdeset” (2018) by B. Žakelj. Both have become sales leaders and received the status of national bestsellers. Their curriculum vitae are similar: both were the debut works of authors who were not professional writers, both received the Kresnik national literary prize for the best novel of the year and both caused a heated discussion on social networks. The commercial success of both books was not only related to effective marketing, advertising, place in the rating, taste stereotypes of literary critics and other extra-literary factors, but also to certain artistic references: this is the existential nature of the problematic, autobiographical discourse, the type of narration (“Ich”-form), the specificity of the chronotope. In the focus of Vojnović’s novel is the fate of national minorities in the post-Yugoslav space, told on behalf of a teenager. After the final collapse of Yugoslavia, the inhabitants of the poorest republics and regions of the former Tito empire began to seek refuge in Slovenia, by the mid-2000s there was in the republic an acute problem of interethnic contradictions associated with the younger generation of immigrants. Žakelj’s confession novel focuses on the tragic and dramatic twists and turns of her own life story and the author’s reflection on her experiences. A comparative analysis of the works gives an idea of how the system of values of ordinary Slovenian readers was transformed, how their interest in the resonant problems of modern life in the country was replaced by the need for empathy, the desire to find a psychological refuge in the book.