The First Slovene Novel in the System of World Literature

Abstract

The first Slovenian novel is yet to be read in a way that is both comparative and social. For while Slovenian studies treats the emergence of the Slovenian novel socially but not comparatively, comparative literature studies views it comparatively yet not socially. This lack can be filled in by the perspective of the literary world-system. Moreover, this viewpoint can concretise the thesis of Slovenian studies that the so-called belatedness of the Slovenian novel is part of the belatedness of the Slovenian bourgeoisie, as well as the comparatist thesis that the Slovenian novel could emerge only after the end of the European novel. The world-systemic approach can grasp this belatedness as a social fact that speaks less of the Slovenian novel's essence than of the structural relations between the Slovenian culture and its European social environment.