As part of our research of the ethical aspects of literature, we published an influential study which addresses the specifics of the postmodern literary subject and reality from the perspective of the conceptual parallels between the postmodern metaphysical framework and Zen Buddhist understanding of subject, space and time. Analysing the structuring of the literary subject and reality in Ruth Ozeki's novel A Tale for the Time Being, the author examines and outlines the productive aspects of Zen Buddhist ethical premises for the formation of the ethical system that ontologically complies with the socio-historical and metaphysical characteristics of the postmodern epoch as conceptualized primarily by poststructuralism and posthumanism. By examining the novel’s formal and thematic structuring from the perspective of Baudrillard's categories of fractal subject and hyperreality, and the key principles of Dogen's school of Zen Buddhism, the author identifies empathy as the ethical category that is fundamental both to Zen Buddhism as well as to the postmodern metaphysics. Moreover, the author establishes that since empathy is inherent in the experiencing of literature, literature can play a major role in the formation of the ethical system consistent with the basic premises of the postmodern epoch.
COBISS.SI-ID: 69745250
A significant achievement in the research on intercultural literary-historical studies is an innovative research on Paula von Preradović (1887–1951), the author of the Austrian national anthem (her text for the new Austrian national anthem prevailed in 1946 over more than 1800 submissions). The research shows that literature could be published in the German Reich that did not quite conform to the prevailing ideology. It also turns out that Paula von Preradovič was undoubtedly an opponent of National Socialism, but by no means an anti-fascist, which is evident from her support for the authoritarian Austrofascist regime. Paula von Preradović constantly remained bound to Istria, and it is not only her first poems that deal with her homeland, which she did not really leave until she was 26. To the end, she dedicated herself in her works to Croatian topics. The article offers a detailed look at this fascinating author’s relations to the fascist systems in Austria, relations which become all the more weighty when we consider that Preradović would go on to compose the Austrian national anthem, which is still in use today. That makes the political background of the author, who came from Istria to Vienna, even more important. Like other intellectuals – for example Karl Kraus, Franz Werfel, and Joseph Roth – she was close to the ideas of the authoritarian state of “Austrofascism.” However, in contrast to many others, this closeness is not only due to a common opposition to National Socialism. In many respects, she was close to its ideology, and this proximity is, for instance, reflected in her poetry collection Lob Gottes im Gebirge (1936). On the other hand, Preradović criticized National Socialism in her novel Pave and Pero (1940), albeit very discreetly, by presenting a multicultural society, praising unifying factors, and showing herself to be critical of nationalism.
COBISS.SI-ID: 70873442
Vesna Kondrič Horvat's scholarly monograph on the Swiss author writer Erica Pedretti published by Weidler (Berlin) represents a significant achievement in the third research category. The monograph builds on recent theoretical advances in inter- and transcultural connections and hybridization and brings to bear new and topical insights into the Swiss writer Erica Pedretti’s work. The monograph focuses on the writer’s experience during and after the Second World War and illuminates by means of detailed analysis how Erica Pedretti’s works show how the individual blends into the social, political and cultural background, how this is increasingly relevant in today’s ever more globalized world, and in turn how both the “foreign” as well the author’s image of herself are represented. When the author’s own Sudeten German family was expelled from Czechoslovakia in 1945, they moved to Switzerland and from there to America. After the war, Erica alone returned to Switzerland, where she has lived since 1952 and works not only as writer but also as sculptor and painter. The monograph looks at Predretti’s career as a writer in the light of current theoretical approaches and examines how she created her works which, the study shows, are particularly relevant for today.
COBISS.SI-ID: 40541187
Much is expected to change when a work of fiction is translated from one language and culture to another, but the intended reader is not. This paper deals with the issue of the change of the intended reader from adult to child/adolescent in translations of fiction from English into Slovene. The intended reader is most likely to change in translations of comics/cartoons, fantasy, and realistic fiction with child or animal protagonists. The reasons for the change can be both textual and extra-textual: on the one hand, books are categorized as children's books by libraries, award boards and marketers, as well as by the publisher's choice of translator, while, on the other hand, individual translation decisions on the microlevel can help move a book from one category to another.
COBISS.SI-ID: 71808866
An article in the research area of cultural and linguistic communication was published in 2021 the journal The New Educational Review, a high impact journal for the field of education and teacher training. The article treats a highly relevant and topical subject: the heterogeneity and cultural and linguistic diversity of school children. Pupil heterogeneity, differentiation as the only response to it as well as the related classroom teaching approaches are discussed in the article and noted as a paradox in educational practice that has existed right from the beginnings of the discipline. The article offers a reflection on the institutional and structural frameworks used to implement differentiation and their conceptual potential for dealing appropriately with the (cultural and linguistic) heterogeneity of pupils. The empirical part of the article, where teaching training students provided input, presents the findings of a quantitative analysis of feedback provided by foreign language teachers on the actual possibility of differentiation as well as on the dilemmas and pitfalls which differentiation brings with it. This contribution is extremely topical both from the perspective of intercultural communication and education and offers some potential new solutions to existing problems.
COBISS.SI-ID: 57291523