Karel Štrekelj and His Unpublished Collection of Slovenian Folktales

Abstract

Abstract:Karel Štrekelj (1859–1912), a prominent Slovenian folklorist and philologist, published among other a scientific edition of Slovenian Folk Songs and was also the first to introduce the term »folklore« to Slovenian humanities. He focused his scientific attention on dialects, etymology, historical grammar, and history of literature but his greatest contribution was to the field of folklore studies and ethnology. While he published the collection of folk songs, the manuscripts of folk tales have remained unpublished. These tales had been sent to him by collectors from different parts of the Slovenian ethnic territory. Although Štrekelj did intend to publish them in a critical edition of Slovenian folktales and legends his untimely death prevented him from starting to organize this extensive material. He already created some basic criteria for such an arduous task, and intended to contact his Czech colleague Jiři Polívka in Prague for further instructions. In comparison with other major yet older collections of this type, for example those published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Aleksander Nikolaevič Affanasev, and Vuk Karadžić it may be said that Slovenian folktales from Štrekelj's legacy are unquestionably of great importance for the Slovenian nation though.