The essay draws on the comparison between the interpretations of proletarian art provided by the Russian philosopher Alexander A. Bogdanov and by the Slovenian communist ideologue Dragotin Gustincic ...in the letter that Srecko Kosovel wrote to Josip Ribicic on 11 November 1922, as well as on the reverberant polemics that opposed Gustincic to Srecko's elder brother Stano in early spring 1922 on the spiritual crisis which grieved young Slovenian intellectuals after WWI and led Srecko to overcome his merely sentimental commitment to socialism and engage in a mature and informed siding of his communist comrades, as well as to replace his "velvet poetry" with a constructivistic one. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
This article deals with contemporary interpretations of Slovenian poetry that emerged after the independence of Slovenia. Reference is made to the basic theses of Dusan Pirjevec in his article ..."Vprasanje poe2ije" (The Issue of Poetry). Pirjevec wrote about the social role of poetry in the preservation of Slovenian national identity and he referred to this type of poetry as the "Preseren structure." In his opinion, this stateless nation exercised its creativity in culture, in which literature in particular - and, within it, poetry - is essential. When Slovenia became part of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, poetry was able to be developed as an autonomous art, representing a rejection of the Preseren structure. According to Peter Kolsek, contemporary interpretations establish two megastructures, those of Preseren and Murn, which represent two types of poetic production: poetry in the service of the nation, a certain idea, or class, and poetry that focuses on language in its autonomous aesthetic function. The poetry of Srecko Kosovel seems to have been the most radical departure from the Preseren structure in the early twentieth century. However, Jane2 Vrecko argues that Kosovel's work contains an active Preseren structure, which established the discursive extent to which this poet could undermine the traditional lyric paradigm. Other researchers, including Denis Poniz, Peter Kolsek, and Matevz Kos, believe that the most radical rejection of the Preseren structure occurred in ultramodernist and neo-avant garde poetry. The visual and concrete poets of the 1960s rejected the national poetic tradition. Given the open socialist Yugoslav society of the time, one could say that neo-avant garde poetry attained its most radical forms in Yugoslavia, especially in Slovenia. There seems to be no agreement on the issue of postmodern poetry and its social function or social indifference. When Slovenia attained independence, culture and especially poetry lost their importance under the new political and economic conditions. In the poetry of the new poets - referring to those born in the 1 960s and 1 970s - radical poetic moves are not possible. It is as though the Preseren structure is still active but concealed under the new circumstances: it is still operating and, as always, setting the discursive boundaries of poetry. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Presents photographs documenting two public art projects by the Slovene graphic artist Eduard Cehovin commemorating the birth of the Slovene poet Strecko Kosovel and celebrating Slovenia joining the ...European Union. The black and white photographs depict graphic designs on billboards in urban environments. An accompanying text details poems presented alongside the billboards featured in the photographs, states that the project commemorating the Slovene poet was entitled SKO4, and notes that one of the murals depicted in the photographs was produced as part of the event Bled to Europe, Europe to Bled (2004).
