Slovene Classics and Social Media

Abstract

The paper analyzes the book SLOLvenski klasiki 1 by Bošjtan Gorenc - Pižama (Cankarjeva založba, 2015), a collection of fifty-three parodic adaptations of classic Slovene literary works. The subject matter of the canoni- cal literature is transported into a new setting of social networks, e-mails, text messages, message boards, and web pages. The Slovene classics are exploited in various ways: by employing a central motif, through an excerpt from a literary work, or simply by allusion. The main thing is that they are situated in new contexts of current social issues (e.g., migrant crises, gay rights, women in publishing, etc.). Drawing from new media theory, the presentation surveys the circumstances of migrating classic literary works into the language, code, and milieu of digital media, which are the contents of Pižama's printed book. The discussion focuses on the relation between text and medium-that is, on how the rewriting of familiar literary themes is influenced by digital technologies and their features, and especially on how such features affect the adaptation in terms of language and expression.