Slavica Tergestina 26 (2021/I)

This article discusses Protestant and other forbidden books included on the Index librorum prohibitorum (List of Prohibited Books) from Pope Paul IV (1559) to Benedict XIV (1758), which, according to book catalogs, were located in the former or still-functioning Minorite, Franciscan, Capuchin, and Dominican monasteries in Lower Styria. Works by Class I authors (I. Cl. Ind. Trid.), where the reformers are mainly found (Luther, Hus, Melanchthon, and Trubar), were completely banned. This was followed by individual prohibited works (e.g., by Johann Ludwig Schönleben) and works with problematic passages, forbidden until corrected (donec corrigantur; e.g., Johannes Schneidewein).

Based on copies that have been preserved in the National and University Library, archival documents, early library inventories and catalogues, and accession logs, this article examines the presence of works by prominent French, English, and American philosophers and political philosophers in the Ljubljana lyceum library’s collection in the last decades of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century. It also presents sources that testify to the influence of imperial censorship policies and legislation on the acquisition, recording, and lending of banned literature in the library until 1848, and provides information on individuals and institutions that kept works by banned authors in their personal collections before they became part of the Ljubljana lyceum library.

Slovenian literary history discussed Austrian censorship in Carniola during the Pre-March Era mainly through the conflict between the Romantic poet Prešeren and backward secular and church authorities. This article changes the perspective by examining the paradox of censor as an instrument of imperial thought control and a trained expert resembling the literary critic. In the period of Metternich’s absolutist policing, censorship was inadvertently individualized. How censors relied on their aesthetic judgement, prestige, and strategies is shown by the treat-ment of the almanac Krajnska čbelica by Kopitar and Čop in the 1830s. During the “Slovenian alphabet war,” Kopitar’s Herderianism collided with the Romantic cosmopolitanism of Prešeren and Čop, who advocated the impor-tance of aesthetic autonomy for the national movement.

This article addresses the impact of the censorship reforms introduced by Emperor Joseph II with regard to the inhabitants and culture of the Duchy of Carniola. The first part presents the major reforms to censorship that were introduced and applied in all of the crown lands of Austria. The second part discusses the circumstances in Carniola. It analyses newspapers and catalogues of booksellers from that period as well as contemporary histo-riographic literature. It turns out that three major intellectual circles in Lju-bljana benefited from the reforms of Joseph II: the circle of enlightened intellectuals gathered around Baron Sigmund Zois, the circle around Bishop Johann Karl von Herberstein, and, finally, booksellers such as Wilhelm Heinrich Korn.

This article provides an overview of censorship and book bans in Austria between 1751 and 1848. It is based on the catalogues and lists of banned manuscripts and books and the available censorship regulations and censors’ protocols; moreover, the most important persons involved in censorship such as Gerard van Swieten, Count Sedlnitzky, and Metternich are introduced, and their impact on the book trade is shown. From an instrument encouraging Enlightenment and defending morality during the reign of Maria Teresa and Joseph II, censorship became a major factor of political repression after the French Revolution. The focus moved from the protection of Catholicism against Protestant “heresy” and superstition to the defense of monarchy against liberalism and nationalism. The aim of enlightening the citizens and promoting their happiness pursued during the second half of the eighteenth century was replaced by the will to maintain the “peace” of the state and suppress any ideas that confounded its interests.

This article surveys the censorship in the Slovenian lands during the long period when they were part of the Habsburg Monarchy. In the early modern age, from the Reformation to the rule of Maria Theresa, censorship was primarily related to religion and was exerted by the Catholic Church (Index of Prohibited Books). However, in the second half of the eighteenth century, it was gradually secularized, coming to serve as a central tool of state control over the printed word in the course of the long nineteenth century. At the end of the article, possibilities for further synthetic studies are discussed.

This article examines documentary materials of the Dramatic Society in Ljubljana from the period between 1891/92 and 1903/04 that are held in the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia. The approach is informed by Ginzburg’s micro-historical method, which suggests reading documents “against the grain” and underlines the importance of materials’ differing provenance. Two types of documents are included in the censorship materials, which were created by individuals in subordinate roles and by those in government structures. One type is requests from the Dramatic Society to stage plays in Slovenian, and the other is grants of permission for productions from the Provincial Presidency of Carniola, which was in charge of theater censorship. An analysis reveals that at the beginning of the twentieth century the censorship apparatus’s power had not yet waned, but in fact had increased, and the time of depoliticized censorship had not yet arrived.

Johann Ludwig Schönleben began fervently defending the truth about the Immaculate Conception of Mary during his Jesuit period. He became more involved in Mariology after leaving the order. In 1659 he published two books of his Orbis universi votorum (Vows of the Entire World). His most important Mariological works, Vera ac sincera sententia (A True and Honest Opinion, 1668/1670) and Palma virginea (The Virgin Palm, 1671), were printed in Salzburg. Due to their polemical tone, and in spite of their otherwise impeccable theological integrity, both works were included on the Index librorum prohibitorum. The same fate befell the two editions (1680, 1681) of De officio immaculatae conceptionis Deiparae antiquissimo et devotissimo (The Oldest and Most Devout Service of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God), which were also prohibited. They came out anonymously, and the possibility of Schönleben’s authorship was first pointed out by Valvasor.

Censorship of books in the Habsburg hereditary lands was initially effectively controlled by the Catholic Church and was secularized only under Maria Theresa (1740–1780). During the process, the Church gradually lost its decisive influence: in 1751, the Court Book Censorship Committee was established, in 1764 the last Jesuit member of the commission was ousted, and in 1772 the state took over censorship of even theological and religious publications. The new censorship differed from the old one in many ways; for example, with grounding in moderate Enlightenment. In some respects, it resumed the tradition (e.g., favoring Catholicism), and in others it even became more restrictive (e.g., when dealing with literature).

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.

This article examines how Slovenian writers, dramatists, journalists, and publishers dealt with the post-1848 censorship in the Habsburg Monarchy. In contrast to the preventive censor-ship characteristic of the pre-March period, the retroactive (post-publication) censorship that prevailed after the suppressed 1848 revolution used a different modus operandi: relying on a network of prosecutors and courts, it controlled print in retrospect, often seizing print runs, launching lawsuits against the press, and imposing heavy fines. This analysis focuses on the cases of the Carinthan publisher Andrej Einspieler, the prosecution of nationalist literati in Ljubljana (Fran Levstik, Miroslav Vilhar, Jakob Alešovec, and Janez Trdina), the imprisonment of authors and publishers, and, finally, the notable case of Ivan Cankar.

Slovenian literature of the early modern period is characterized by a fact common to some smaller European literatures: because of difficult access to printing, manuscript culture played an important role in this literature from the early seventeenth century to the mid-nineteenth century. For certain literary genres of this period, the existence of texts, their textual transmission, distribution, and reader reception could be based almost exclusively on the medium of the manuscript. When Enlightenment censorship began to suppress Baroque Catholic literature in the late eighteenth century, Slovenian manuscript culture was a means of perpetuating the literary tradition in a persistent and creative way. This article outlines six groups of Slovenian manuscripts that managed to do so, albeit only for a limited period of time.