Slovene Translatological Thought

The chapter aims to outline the development of translatological thought in Slovene ethnic territory. The overview of such thought on translation in Slovene from the 16th century until the present time shows that the attitude towards translation and literary translation was, in general, positive. The only exception was the second part of the 19th century, when the most prominent Slovene literary figures, like Josip Stritar, expressed an extremely negative attitude towards literary translation, believing that it hindered original creativity in Slovene. In all other periods the most praised Slovene writers and translators considered translation as an important building block in the formation of Slovene national literature, culture and identity. The chapter then focuses on theoreti­cal thinking with regard to translation in Slovenia, which started to develop in the last three decades of the 20th century. Because of the sheer number of articles published in journals and collected volumes, the chapter focuses only on monographs devoted to literary translation and translating; in more than 30 monographs we find adapted doctoral theses, monographs that deal with translation from the point of view of other, adjacent fields, and Translation Studies monographs proper. The chapter concludes with a description of aspects of theoretical thought that, according to the author of the chapter, represent an innovative Slovene contribution to Translation Theory, and could be found in the works of Frane Jerman, Gorazd Kocijančič, Erich Prunč, Nike K. Pokorn and Marko Juvan.