On the basis of a rereading in part motivated by the “spatial turn,” the article shows that the novel’s setting has an actual geographic basis that has until now been overlooked in literary studies. ...The main action is set in the central Slovene land historically known as Carniola, and more precisely, in the Notranjsko Region’s Loška Valley, on the Snežnik Estate and its surroundings. The novel Beatin dnevnik delivers a patriotic theme in a complex manner by means of patriotic expressions—for the most part from the mouth of the French woman de Latour—and the choice of setting, which is especially manifested in references to places and descriptions of certain physical, geographical phenomena. This conclusion contradicts the established view of the genre’s supposed irrelevance in the developing literary system of the nation’s letters.
In this book (' The Spaces of Slovenian Literature'), a team of researchers from the ZRC SAZU and the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana led by Marko Juvan develops a new discipline, which is formed at the ...intersection between the analysis of the literary system and geography and relies on geographic information systems. Based on the spatial humanities approach presented in the introductory chapters, the following analyses, thematic maps and graphs try to explain how the “national space” was formed both ideologically and materially due to the interaction between geographical factors and literary practices in Slovenian from 1780 to 1940. The argument is based on spatial statistical analysis of data sets of biographies of literary actors, development of the press, publishing, literary clubs and theaters, the places represented in historical novels, and a constellation of memorial objects and designations dedicated to Slovenian writers. Systemic treatment is supplemented with discussions on the depicted and living spaces of selected writers from the 17th to the 21st century.
