Prešeren 1905

Abstract

Since at least the end of the 19th century, France Prešeren (1800–49), the major poet of Slovenian Romanticism, has been unanimously recognized as a forefather and even founder of Slovenian literary culture. Like his older colleague Valentin Vodnik (1758–1819), Prešeren was not really famous at the moment of his death. However, both of them had highly interesting afterlives, becoming subjects of intense celebration, veneration, and canonization in certain periods. Whereas Vodnik was enthusiastically canonized as ‘the first Slovenian poet’, Prešeren was praised as an unsurpassable poetic genius who cultivated his language and elevated Slovenian literature to a world-class level, enabling the emerging Slovenian nation to legitimize itself as an equal member of the ‘assembly of nations’. In contrast to Vodnik, whose cult seems to have slowly decayed after 1889, when his statue was euphorically installed in Ljubljana, Prešeren has retained his cultural standing. Although his cult reached an obvious climax with the monument campaign at the turn of the 20th century, Prešeren’s presence in Slovenian cultural and political discourses has remained remarkable ever since. Even when compared with other ‘national poets’ in the region, such as Mácha, Petőfi, Mickiewicz, or Botev, Prešeren’s stature within the Slovenian cultural field seems somewhat unique.¹