''Ljubljanski zvon'' (The Ljubljana Bell) was a
journal
A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to:
*Bullet journal, a method of personal organization
*Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period
*Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...
published in
Ljubljana
Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center.
During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...
in
Slovene between 1881 and 1941. It was considered one of the most prestigious literary and cultural magazines in
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
.
Early period
The journal was founded in 1881
as a gazette of the circle of young
Slovene liberals, mostly from
Carniola
Carniola ( sl, Kranjska; , german: Krain; it, Carniola; hu, Krajna) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region sti ...
, who were dissatisfied with the editorial policy of the magazine ''Zvon'' (The Bell), published in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
by the doyen of the
Young Slovenes movement,
Josip Stritar
Josip Stritar (6 March 1836 – 25 November 1923) was a Slovene writer, poet, essayist, the first aesthetic critic, playwright, publisher and translator.
Life
Stritar spent his early childhood in his home village of Podsmreka in rural Lower ...
. The group, centered around the authors, journalists and political activists
Josip Jurčič
Josip Jurčič (4 March 1844 – 3 May 1881) was a Slovene writer and journalist. He was born in Muljava, Austrian Empire (now part of the municipality of Ivančna Gorica, Slovenia)Levec, Fran. 1881. Josip Jurčič. ''Ljubljanski zvon'' 1(6) ( ...
,
Janko Kersnik
Janko Kersnik (4 September 1852 – 28 July 1897) was a Slovene writer and politician. Together with Josip Jurčič, he is considered the most important representative of literary realism in Slovene.
Biography
Kersnik was born in Brdo Ma ...
,
Ivan Tavčar
Ivan Tavčar () (28 August 1851 – 19 February 1923) was a Slovenian writer, lawyer, and politician.
Biography
Tavčar was born into the poor peasant family of Janez and Neža née Perko in the Carniolan village of Poljane near Škofja Loka ...
, and
Fran Levec, regarded Stritar's editorial policy as too detached from the reality in the Slovene Lands. They also rejected Stritar's
post-romantic
Post-romanticism or Postromanticism refers to a range of cultural endeavors and attitudes emerging in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, after the period of Romanticism.
Post-romanticism in literature
The period of post-romantici ...
aesthetic views, which they saw as backward and too influenced by
Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...
's pessimism. Instead, they turned to
realism
Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to:
In the arts
*Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts
Arts movements related to realism include:
*Classical Realism
*Literary realism, a move ...
and later to
naturalism.
Soon after its establishment, ''Ljubljanski zvon'' became the most prestigious literary magazine in Slovene. From the turn of the 20th century onward, it became also a platform for political and public debates. Since its formation, it supported
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
and
progressive views. In 1888, conservative
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
intellectuals founded the magazine ''
Dom in svet
''Dom in svet'' ("Home and World") was a Catholic cultural and literary journal published in Slovenia.
History and profile
''Dom in svet'' was published from 1888 to 1943. Its long-running rivalry with the national-liberal journal ''Ljubljanski ...
'' to counter the influence of ''Ljubljanski zvon''. From then on, the competition between the two journals became one of the characteristic of the Slovene cultural and public life.
The split over Yugoslav nation building
During the
centralist
Centralisation or centralization (see spelling differences) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning and decision-making, framing strategy and policies become concentrated within a partic ...
regime of King
Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I ( sr-Cyrl, Александар I Карађорђевић, Aleksandar I Karađorđević, ) ( – 9 October 1934), also known as Alexander the Unifier, was the prince regent of the Kingdom of Serbia from 1914 and later the King of Yug ...
, the editorial board of the journal suffered a decisive split between a minority who supported the project of creating a unitary
Yugoslav nation, and a majority of those who clang to the specific national and cultural identity of the
Slovene people
The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Slovenci ), are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia, and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovene as their n ...
. The first serious conflict broke out in 1931, when the chief editor
Fran Albreht
Fran Albreht (17 November 1889 – 11 February 1963) was a Slovenian poet, editor, politician and partisan. He also published under the pseudonym Rusmir.
He was born as Franc Albrecht in the Upper Carniolan town of Kamnik in what was then the Aus ...
decided to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the magazine by adding a new subtitle: ''Slovenska revija'' (Slovene magazine). The decision was made in period when the Yugoslav authorities were sponsoring the official use of
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
in the
Drava Banovina and when even the name "Slovenia" was banned from official public use.
The following year, a polemics broke out between the poet
Oton Župančič
Oton Župančič (January 23, 1878 – June 11, 1949, pseudonym ''Gojko'') was a Slovene poet, translator, and playwright. He is regarded, alongside Ivan Cankar, Dragotin Kette and Josip Murn, as the beginner of modernism in Slovene literature. ...
and the literary critic
Josip Vidmar
Josip Vidmar (October 14, 1895 – April 11, 1992) was a notable Slovenian literary critic, essayist, and politician. From 1944 to 1946 he was speaker of the Slovenian People's Liberation Council (Slovenian Parliament). From 1952 to 1976 was pre ...
on the issue of Slovene identity. Župančič published an essay on the occasion of the visit of the Slovene-born American writer
Louis Adamic
Louis Adamic ( sl, Alojzij Adamič; March 23, 1898 – September 4, 1951) was a Slovene-American author and translator, mostly known for writing about and advocating for ethnic diversity of the United States.
Background
Louis Adamic ...
in the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...
, in which he maintained that the Slovenes shouldn't be too preoccupied about their language, since they can keep their identity even if they lose the language. The article was perceived by many as a subtle support of the cultural policies of the centralist monarchist regime. When the literary critic
Josip Vidmar
Josip Vidmar (October 14, 1895 – April 11, 1992) was a notable Slovenian literary critic, essayist, and politician. From 1944 to 1946 he was speaker of the Slovenian People's Liberation Council (Slovenian Parliament). From 1952 to 1976 was pre ...
wanted to publish his negative review of Župančič's article in the journal, he was prevented of doing so by the publisher, closely linked to the National-Liberal political establishment which supported King Alexander's dictatorship. In protest, most of the editorial board stepped down, including the chief editor
Fran Albreht
Fran Albreht (17 November 1889 – 11 February 1963) was a Slovenian poet, editor, politician and partisan. He also published under the pseudonym Rusmir.
He was born as Franc Albrecht in the Upper Carniolan town of Kamnik in what was then the Aus ...
. In the same year, Albreht published a book entitled ''Kriza Ljubljanskega Zvona'' (The Crisis of The Ljubljana Bell), in which he made public all the details of the controversy. The book greatly damaged the reputation of the magazine. In 1933, the younger generations of Slovene liberal intellectuals that rejected Yugoslav
nation building
Nation-building is constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the State (polity), state. Nation-building aims at the unification of the people within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long r ...
founded a new journal, called ''
Sodobnost
''Sodobnost'' ( Slovene for ''Modernity'' or ''Contemporary Time'') is a Slovenian literary and cultural magazine, established in 1933. It is considered the oldest of currently existing literary magazines in Slovenia. Although ''Sodobnost'' has tr ...
'', with Albreht as editor.
The split of 1932-33 ruined the reputation of the magazine. Many of the most talented writers went to ''Sodobnost'' and the ''Ljubljanski zvon'' lost a substantial number of subscribers. In 1935, the writer and journalist
Juš Kozak
Juš Kozak (26 June 1892 – 29 August 1964), also known under the pseudonym Jalanov, was a Slovenian writer, playwright, and editor. He is best known for his autobiographic novels, such as ''Celica'' (The Cell) on his experience as a politica ...
was chosen as the new editor. He opened the journal to
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
and
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
authors, which published their articles under
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
s (among them was also the young
Dušan Pirjevec
Dušan Pirjevec, known by his nom de guerre Ahac (20 March 1921 – 4 August 1977), was a Slovenian Partisan, literary historian and philosopher. He was one of the most influential public intellectuals in post–World War II Slovenia.
Earl ...
, who later became one of the foremost Marxist intellectuals in Slovenia). After the
Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
* Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
invasion of Yugoslavia
The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was p ...
in April 1941, the journal was closed down
[ by the ]Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
occupation authorities of the Province of Ljubljana. After the end of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in 1945, the new Communist authorities did not allow the re-establishment of the journal, despite the pro-Marxist inclination of its last editorial board.
Importance
The editors of ''Ljubljanski zvon'' included figures such as Fran Levec, Anton Funtek
Anton Funtek (30 October 1862 – 21 October 1932) was a Slovene writer, poet, editor and translator.
Funtek was born in Ljubljana that was then part of the Austrian Empire, now the capital of Slovenia. He trained as a teacher and worked in L ...
, Janko Kersnik
Janko Kersnik (4 September 1852 – 28 July 1897) was a Slovene writer and politician. Together with Josip Jurčič, he is considered the most important representative of literary realism in Slovene.
Biography
Kersnik was born in Brdo Ma ...
, Anton Aškerc, Oton Župančič
Oton Župančič (January 23, 1878 – June 11, 1949, pseudonym ''Gojko'') was a Slovene poet, translator, and playwright. He is regarded, alongside Ivan Cankar, Dragotin Kette and Josip Murn, as the beginner of modernism in Slovene literature. ...
, Anton Melik, Fran Albreht
Fran Albreht (17 November 1889 – 11 February 1963) was a Slovenian poet, editor, politician and partisan. He also published under the pseudonym Rusmir.
He was born as Franc Albrecht in the Upper Carniolan town of Kamnik in what was then the Aus ...
, Anton Ocvirk
Anton may refer to: People
* Anton (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Anton (surname)
Places
* Anton Municipality, Bulgaria
** Anton, Sofia Province, a village
* Antón District, Panama
** Antón, a town and capital ...
, Tone Seliškar
Anton "Tone" Seliškar (1 April 1900 – 10 August 1969) was a Slovene writer, poet, journalist and teacher. He published poetry, short stories and novels and is also known for his young adult fiction. Together with Mile Klopčič, he is conside ...
and Juš Kozak
Juš Kozak (26 June 1892 – 29 August 1964), also known under the pseudonym Jalanov, was a Slovenian writer, playwright, and editor. He is best known for his autobiographic novels, such as ''Celica'' (The Cell) on his experience as a politica ...
. Many of the most important Slovene authors of the period published their works in the journal, including Dragotin Kette, Josip Murn, Ivan Cankar
Ivan Cankar (, ) (10 May 1876 – 11 December 1918) was a Slovene writer, playwright, essayist, poet, and political activist. Together with Oton Župančič, Dragotin Kette, and Josip Murn, he is considered as the beginner of modernism in Slo ...
and Alojz Gradnik. The journal published also articles in the field of humanities
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...
and social sciences
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...
, both from Slovene and non-Slovene authors.
Availability
All issues of the journal can be freely accessed online on the Digital Library of Slovenia.
See also
* List of magazines in Slovenia
The first magazine for women, '' Slovenka'' (''Slovenian Woman''), was published in Slovenia in 1896. During the 1960s the literary magazines played a significant role in Slovenia's liberalization.
In 2004 there were nearly 1,000 printed media i ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ljubljanski zvon
1881 establishments in Austria-Hungary
1941 establishments in Yugoslavia
Defunct literary magazines published in Europe
Defunct magazines published in Yugoslavia
Magazines established in 1881
Magazines disestablished in 1941
Mass media in Ljubljana
Slovene-language magazines