Slavica Tergestina 28 (2022/I)

The present article looks at narrative mountaineering literature as a hybrid genre that addresses mountain climbing, expeditions to mountain peaks and high-altitude skiing as demanding existential trials and offering liminal experiences. In texts written by climbers of Himalayan peaks in particular, hybridity is mostly formed by the interweaving, confrontation and adaptation of such genres as travel writing, life writing and guide books, as well as by the adoption of elements of narrative genres belonging to canonical literature. In terms of case studies, the article focuses on three Slovenian-language books with a marked aesthetic tendency: Dušan Jelinčič’s Zvezdnate noči (Starry Nights, 1990), Igor Škamperle’s Sneg na zlati veji (The Snow on the Golden Bough, 1992) and Bogdan Biščak’s Igra in biseri (The Game and the Pearls, 2018). Of particular interest are the aesthetic singularity of these three texts as well as the features they share with narrative mountaineering literature in general.

The article is devoted to Tadeusz Piotrowski’s 1988 book Słońce nad Tiricz Mirem (The Sun Over Tirich Mir), which tells the story of the 1978 Polish–Yugoslav expedition to Hindu Kush. The focus is on the text’s narrative construction in the context of the paradigm of a mountaineering expedition narrative. It is shown that the literariness of the narrative enables Piotrowski to modify the documentary character of the story without having to sacrifice its authenticity. The article also analyses the ways in which a coherent narrative identity is constructed through the ideological and aesthetic conception of the haptic sublime, which is a typical feature of modern mountaineering literature as such.

The history of Polish Himalaya-themed mountaineering literature can be said to lead from writings based in expedition logbooks to road narratives inspired by climbing. Its transformations are closely related to the history of Polish mountaineering. The article begins with a discussion of the two Polish-language accounts of a Himalayan expedition which were written in 1939. Subsequently, the analysis focuses on the first accounts which transcended the model of the expedition logbook, namely the post-war narratives of the Swiss expeditions to Dhaulagiri in which Poles took part. The key section of the article concentrates on Wojciech Kurtyka, a world-renowned pioneer of the alpine style in Himalayan climbing and an acknowledged journalist and writer who broke the paradigms of both non-fiction and fictional mountain literature. The article closes with the writings of Marek Raganowicz, whose texts introduce a new perspective to contemporary Polish mountaineering literature.

The article proposes a synthetic model of Polish mountaineering literature in the context of the history of Polish mountaineering and of the general pattern of modern mountaineering. Mountaineering is approached here from the perspective of Martin Heidegger’s fundamental ontology, as it provides a liminal experience which exposes the structure of cultural boundaries surrounding the mountaineer. In this model, the climbing route, as a kind of ridge between culture and nature, becomes the metaphor for a way of life governed by what could be called the school of vertical promotion. In this context, mountaineering literature mediates between the opposition upon which the idea of climbing is founded. The history of Polish mountaineering, with its diverse and rich literature, serves as an illustration of this general approach.

This article explores what understanding of the translator’s role should ideally underlie modern literary translations. It examines the extent to which functional translation models such as the Skopos theory, which place the expectations of the client and orientation towards readers above fidelity to the original, can be applied to the current professional practice of translating. Selected passages from the German translation of the Slovenian mountaineering book Pot will be used to illustrate how the analysis of the target audience can affect the translation process. By means of examples from the translation, it will be demonstrated that loyalty to the source text can be achieved not only by adhering to the wording of the original but also through deliberate changes (in the form of additions or footnotes). Against the background of the findings, contemporary literary translation will be defined as a purpose-oriented, creative, (self-)reflexive decision-making process focused on anticipated reader expectations.

Polish Himalayan climbing took its first steps long before the first eight-thousand-metre peak was scaled. Later, when the climbing world set out to conquer the Himalaya, Poles were stuck in a difficult socialist reality. Thanks to a great passion for mountains, Polish mountaineers broke through the barrier of the Iron Curtain. In frantic competition with Western climbers and chasing their own dreams, they helped define Himalayan climbing for the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The golden age of Polish Himalayanism left no successors, though; Polish Himalayan climbing was only reactivated after 2000. This article works with published source material to present the history of Polish activity in the highest mountains in the world, including the golden age of Polish Himalayanism and its influence on the current form of Polish activity in the Himalaya.

Today, Slovenian Himalayan climbers are ranked among the best in the world. This metaphorical climb to the top began with successful ascents of Makalu in 1975 and Everest in 1979. By 1995, Slovenians scaled all 14 peaks higher than eight thousand metres. So far, 249 Slovenians have taken part in 126 expeditions to eight-thousanders; 82 of them summited an eight-thousander, some more than once, as there were 149 ascents in total. 27 of them (co-)wrote at least one book detailing the expedition; there are 56 such books in total. The article gives a chronology of Slovenian Himalayan expeditions with an overview of the first Slovenian ascents of eight-thousanders. Featured are also a list of expedition members who (co-)wrote books about expeditions to eight-thousanders, a graph showing the frequency of book publications, and a list of Slovenian climbers and their eight-thousanders.

The article proposes a typology of mountaineering literature written by Slovenian mountaineers. It differentiates between two poles: the heroic and the contemplative, or, in more generic terms, the epic and the poetic. A sketch of the origin of this typology in mountaineering texts themselves is followed by an elaboration of the two constituent types with reference to two exemplary cases, namely Klement Jug and Nejc Zaplotnik. Writing in the early 1920s, Jug emphasised the heroic side of alpinism where both celebration one’s own feats and critique of one’s colleagues’ failures are supposed to serve the nation and humanity. Writing in the early 1980s, Zaplotnik saw in climbing an aim in itself where both accomplishments and failures primarily serve one’s own inner journey. The article concludes with the assessment that Zaplotnik’s writings have since become more typical than Jug’s, not least because of their proximity to a specifically Slovenian version of the Bildungsroman.

The article presents the results of a comparative reading of all Slovenian- language books which entail accounts of expeditions to eight-thousand- metre peaks written by members of those expeditions. Each book is read for acknowledgements of mountaineering books, be they within or beyond the corpus, which have helped inspire a given author to take up climbing. The portion of mountaineering books which entail such intertextual references to older representatives of the genre seems surprisingly large and even grows if statements made by the authors in interviews, contributions to their colleagues’ books and other kinds of epitexts are added to the corpus. This enables the conclusion that Himalayan climbing, while being the deadliest of sports, is also the most literary sport and, moreover, the sport whose literature inspires many of their readers to join the ranks of Himalayan climbers and, specifically, climbers who write about their climbs.

Slavica tergestina volumes usually focus on a particular theme or concept. Most of the articles published so far deal with the cultural realm of the Slavic world from the perspective of modern semiotic and cultural methodological approaches, but the journal remains open to other approaches and methodologies. The theme of the upcoming volume along with detailed descriptions of the submission deadlines and the peer review process can be found on our website at www.slavicater.org. All published articles are also available online, both on the journal website and in the University of Trieste web publication system at www.openstarts.units.it/dspace/handle/10077/2204.

The article presents an interpretation of Od początku do końca (From Beginning to End), a book written by Olga Morawska and Piotr Morawski. The work contains a Himalayan climber’s 2001–2009 diary covering, among others, expeditions to K2, Annapurna and Dhaulagiri, as well as his wife’s memoir written after his death. A combination of two perspectives and two narratives, of the climber and his life companion, makes the book stand out from the genre of Himalayan climbing accounts – for literary reasons and owing to its focus on human relationships (intersubjectivity). Nevertheless, a focus on space, a staple of the genre, is strong in this book as well. Consequently, the analysis of the climber’s notes points to a sensual topography: a record of direct experience of mountains. Morawska’s memoir, in turn, is permeated with spatial metaphors (of life as a journey) and brings grief to the fore.