The Setting of Luiza Pesjak‘s Novel Beatin dnevnik

Abstract

On the basis of a rereading in part motivated by the “spatial turn,” the article shows that the novel’s setting has an actual geographic basis that has until now been overlooked in literary studies. The main action is set in the central Slovene land historically known as Carniola, and more precisely, in the Notranjsko Region’s Loška Valley, on the Snežnik Estate and its surroundings. The novel Beatin Dnevnik delivers a patriotic theme in a complex manner by means of patriotic expressions—for the most part from the mouth of the French woman de Latour—and the choice of setting, which is especially manifested in references to places and descriptions of certain physical, geographical phenomena. This conclusion contradicts the established view of the genre’s supposed irrelevance in the developing literary system of the nation’s letters.