''Sodobnost'' (
Slovene for ''Modernity'' or ''Contemporary Time'') is a
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 ...
n
literary
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...
and cultural
magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
, established in 1933. It is considered the oldest of currently existing literary 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 ...
. Although ''Sodobnost'' has traditionally been a magazine focused on cultural and literary issues, it nowadays covers a wide range of current affairs. It is part of the
Eurozine
''Eurozine '' is a network of European cultural magazines based in Vienna, linking up more than 90 partner journals and just as many associated magazines and institutions from nearly all European countries. ''Eurozine'' is also an online magazine ...
editorial project.
History and profile
''Sodobnost'' was established in 1933
by a group of
left liberal
Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...
intellectuals around
Fran Albrecht
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 ...
,
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 ...
and
Ferdo Kozak
Ferdo Kozak (28 October 1894 – 8 December 1957) was a Slovenian author, playwright, editor and politician.
He was born as Ferdinand Kozak in an upper middle class family in Ljubljana, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His older brothe ...
, who had left the
national liberal
National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements of nationalism. Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning as conservative liberalism (right-liberalism).
A seri ...
magazine ''
Ljubljanski zvon
''Ljubljanski zvon'' (The Ljubljana Bell) was a journal published in Ljubljana in Slovene between 1881 and 1941. It was considered one of the most prestigious literary and cultural magazines in Slovenia.
Early period
The journal was founded in ...
''
[ in disagreement with its appeasing policies towards the dictatorship 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 ...
and the centralist and non-democratic policies of the Yugoslav National Party. Its first two editors were 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 ...
and author Ferdo Kozak
Ferdo Kozak (28 October 1894 – 8 December 1957) was a Slovenian author, playwright, editor and politician.
He was born as Ferdinand Kozak in an upper middle class family in Ljubljana, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His older brothe ...
. After 1935 the magazine became one of the strongest supporters of the creation of a Slovenian Popular Front, that is of a broad coalition of left wing groups that would fight against the threat of Fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
and for Slovenian autonomy within Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
. In a period when the Communist party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
was outlawed 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 ...
, the magazine enabled many prominent Communists to publish articles under pseudonyms; among them were Edvard Kardelj
Edvard Kardelj (; 27 January 1910 – 10 February 1979), also known by the pseudonyms Bevc, Sperans and Krištof, was a Yugoslav politician and economist. He was one of the leading members of the Communist Party of Slovenia before World War II. ...
, Boris Kidrič
Boris Kidrič (10 April 1912 – 11 April 1953) was a Slovene politician and revolutionary who was one of the chief organizers of the Slovene Partisans, the Slovene resistance against occupation by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy after Operatio ...
, and Ivo Brnčič
Ivo is a masculine given name, in use in various European languages. The name used in western European languages originates as a Normannic name recorded since the High Middle Ages, and the French name Yves is a variant of it. The unrelated So ...
. In the artistic and literary sense, ''Sodobnost'' became the main platform for neo-realist and social realist
Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...
authors, such as Prežihov Voranc
Prežihov Voranc (10 August 1893 – 18 February 1950) was the pen name of Lovro Kuhar, a Slovene writer and communist political activist. Voranc's literary reputation was established during the 1930s with a series of Slovene novels and short ...
, Ciril Kosmač
Ciril Kosmač (28 September 1910 – 28 January 1980) was a Slovenian novelist and screenwriter.
Life
He was born in a Slovene family in the village of Slap ob Idrijci near Sveta Lucija (now Most na Soči), in what was then the Austro-Hung ...
, Miško Kranjec
Miško Kranjec () ( hu, Krányecz Mihály) (September 15, 1908 – June 8, 1983), born Mihael Kranjec, was a Slovene writer.
Kranjec was born in the village of Velika Polana in what was then the Zala County of the Kingdom of Hungary in the Aus ...
, Ivan Potrč
Ivan Potrč (January 1, 1913 – June 12, 1993) was a Slovene writer and playwright.
Biography
Ivan Potrč was born on January 1, 1913, in a poor peasant family in Štuki near Ptuj,Koblar, France. 1949. "Potrč, Ivan." In: France Kidrič et a ...
, Ludvik Mrzel
Ludvik Mrzel (pen name Frigid) (28 July 1904 – 29 September 1971) was a Slovene writer, poet, dissident and journalist.
Early life and prewar career
Ludvik Mrzel was born on 28 July 1904 in Loka pri Zidanem Mostu, Slovenia. After completing el ...
and others.
Following the Axis 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 magazine closed down.[ After World War II the magazine was re-established as ''Novi svet'' ("New World"), which changed its name to ''Naša sodbonost'' ("Our Contemporary Time") in 1952, thus re-establishing the tradition with the interwar journal. Between 1946 and 1955, it mostly served as a means of cultural propaganda of the new Communist regime. During this time, it was edited by ]Boris Ziherl
Boris may refer to:
People
* Boris (given name), a male given name
*:''See'': List of people with given name Boris
* Boris (surname)
* Boris I of Bulgaria (died 907), the first Christian ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, canonized after his d ...
, the main cultural ideologist of the Communist Party of Slovenia
The League of Communists of Slovenia ( sl, Zveza komunistov Slovenije, ZKS; sh, Savez komunista Slovenije) was the Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1989. It was establis ...
. In 1955, Ziherl was replaced by a more pragmatic editorial board, and in 1963 it assumed its original name, ''Sodobnost''. The following year, the literary historian and philosopher 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.
Early yea ...
joined the editorial board, raising the overall intellectual level of the magazine. During this period, the contributors and editors of ''Sodobnost'' engaged in a long and sharp polemic with the alternative magazine '' Perspektive'' (edited by Taras Kermauner
Taras Kermauner (13 April 1930 – 11 June 2008) was a Slovenian literary historian, critic, philosopher, essayist, playwright and translator.
Life
Taras Kermauner was born in Ljubljana as the son of the Slovene communist politician and inte ...
, Janko Kos, Dominik Smole
Dominik Smole (24 August 1929 – 29 July 1992) was a Slovenian writer and playwright.
Biography
Smole was born in Ljubljana in what was then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He attended school in Ljubljana and after the end of World War II he was emp ...
and Dane Zajc
Dane Zajc () (26 October 1929 – 20 October 2005) was a Slovenian poet and playwright. He served as president of the Slovene Writers' Association (1991–1995), and was awarded the prestigious Prešeren Award for lifetime achievement (1981). Toge ...
), which assumed a more critical stand towards the Titoist
Titoism is a political philosophy most closely associated with Josip Broz Tito during the Cold War. It is characterized by a broad Yugoslav identity, workers' self-management, a political separation from the Soviet Union, and leadership in the ...
regime. When the ''Perspektive'' were dissolved by the regime in 1964, the editors of ''Sodobnost'' published a solidarity note, and were replaced by the regime, as well.
After a period of crisis in 1964-1965, the new editorial board (headed by the poet Ciril Zlobec
Ciril Zlobec (4 July 1925 – 24 August 2018) was a Slovene poet, writer, translator, journalist and former politician. He is best remembered for his poems, publishing several volumes of poetry in his lifetime. In 1990 he became a member of the P ...
) shifted the attitude of the magazine to moderate and pragmatic positions, which opened the magazine to all quality contributors who were not openly and militantly against the prevailing policies in Yugoslavia and Slovenia. Between the mid 1960s and early 1980s, ''Sodobnost'' enjoyed the status of the most prestigious magazine in Slovenia; after that, it went into a gradual but continuous decline. In the late 1990s, under the editor Evald Flisar it became more influential again.
Notable contributors
Many notable authors, critics and journalists have contributed to ''Sodobnost''. Those include, besides the already mentioned, essayists Jože Javoršek
Jože Javoršek was the pen name of Jože Brejc (October 20, 1920 – September 2, 1990), a Slovenian playwright, writer, poet, translator and essayist.[Primož Kozak
Primož Kozak (11 September 1929 – 22 December 1981) was a Slovenian playwright and essayist. Together with Dominik Smole, Dane Zajc and Taras Kermauner, he was the most visible representative of the so-called Critical generation, a group of Sl ...]
, historians Bogo Grafenauer
Bogo Grafenauer (16 March 1916 – 12 May 1995) was a Slovenian historian, who mostly wrote about medieval history in the Slovene Lands. Together with Milko Kos, Fran Zwitter, and Vasilij Melik, he was one of the founders of the so-called ...
and Igor Grdina
Igor may refer to:
People
* Igor (given name), an East Slavic given name and a list of people with the name
* Mighty Igor (1931–2002), former American professional wrestler
* Igor Volkoff, a professional wrestler from NWA All-Star Wrestling ...
, author and sociologist Igor Škamperle
Igor Škamperle (born 21 November 1962) is a Slovenian sociologist, cultural theorist, novelist, essayist, mountaineer and translator.
He was born in a Slovene-speaking family in Trieste, Italy. He studied comparative literature and cultural s ...
, sociologist and politician Lev Kreft
Lev Kreft (born 15 September 1951) is a Slovenian politician, former Member of Parliament, editor, philosopher and sociologist.
Biography
He was elected into the first Parliament of the Republic of Slovenia in 1992 and acted as Vice Preside ...
, poets Igo Gruden, Edvard Kocbek, Janez Menart, Miodrag Bulatović, Josip Osti
Josip Osti (19 March 1945 – 26 June 2021) was a Bosnian and Slovenian poet, prose writer and essayist, literary critic, anthologist and translator.
Biography
Osti was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He graduated from the Faculty of Ph ...
, Iztok Osojnik and Niko Grafenauer
Niko Grafenauer
(born 5 December 1940) is a Slovenian poet, essayist, literary historian, editor and translator. He is particularly known as author of popular children literature, and for his active participation in the Slovenian public life, es ...
, critic Bojan Štih
Bojan Štih (18 February 1923 – 14 October 1986), was a Slovene literary critic, stage director, and essayist. He was one of the most influential figures in modern Slovene theatre after 1945.
Štih was born in Ljubljana, where he attended Be ...
, writers Prežihov Voranc
Prežihov Voranc (10 August 1893 – 18 February 1950) was the pen name of Lovro Kuhar, a Slovene writer and communist political activist. Voranc's literary reputation was established during the 1930s with a series of Slovene novels and short ...
, Igor Torkar
Igor Torkar was the pen name of Boris Fakin (13 October 1913 – 1 January 2004), a Slovenian writer, playwright, and poet best known for his literary descriptions of Communist repression in Yugoslavia after World War II.
Life
Torkar was born i ...
, Lojze Kovačič
Lojze Kovačič (9 November 1928 – 1 May 2004) was a Slovene writer. His novel ''The Newcomers'' ( sl, Prišleki) is often considered one of the most important Slovene novels of the 20th century and has been translated into German, French, Sp ...
, Dušan Šarotar
Dušan Šarotar (born 16 April 1968) is a Slovenian writer, essayist, literary critic and editor.
He was born in the town of Murska Sobota in northeastern Slovenia. He studied sociology and philosophy at the University of Ljubljana. He has publ ...
and many others. The work of Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...
Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha ( arz, نجيب محفوظ عبد العزيز ابراهيم احمد الباشا, ; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. ...
was also published in the magazine.
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 and sources
{{Reflist
*Aleš Berger and Ženja Leiler, eds., ''Slovenska kultura v XX. stoletju'' (Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, 2003), 150-151.
*Aleš Gabrič, ''Socialistična kulturna revolucija'' (Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, 1995).
External links
Home page
Magazines established in 1933
Slovene-language magazines
Literary magazines
Cultural magazines
Magazines published in Slovenia
Mass media in Ljubljana
Slovenian literature
Magazines published in Yugoslavia