Writers vs censorship: Slovenian experience in the context of the 19th century

Abstract

The review presents a collective monograph published in the scientific series “Studia literaria” of the Institute of Slovenian Literature and Literary Studies of the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, which for the first time presents in a comprehensive, multidisciplinary manner the functioning of state censorship as an institution of official control over sociocultural life Slovenes in the territories of the Habsburg Empire, and then Austria-Hungary in the period from 1789 to 1918. Throughout the century under review, Slovenian writers, scientists, editors, publishers, critics, and journalists faced imperial censorship as the most important factor regulating their activities. The institution of censorship itself experienced a number of transformations during this period: from secularization and bureaucracy during the reign of Maria Theresa to the repressive aggressiveness of censorship practices under Franz Joseph. Based on a broad historical, cultural and literary context, the authors – literary scholars, historians, cultural scientists, museum workers, bibliographers – explore the influence of censorship on the process of national revival and the work of outstanding Slovenian authors A. T. Linhart, F. Prešeren, I. Cankar, publishing, periodicals, national theater. The monograph consists of a preface, an extensive introduction and two sections arranged in chronological order, the first of which covers the period from the Great French to the March Revolution, the second from the March Revolution to the First World War. Each section includes ten author’s chapters. The book is equipped with a name index, information about the authors and a detailed English-language summary, including article-by-article annotations. The exclusive archival illustrative material included in the book is very informative and useful: copies of documents, manuscripts, letters, newspaper pages, censorship reports, court decisions, geographical maps, extracts from library catalogs, etc., which not only serves as an evidence base, but also immerses the reader into the atmosphere of time.