Page 101 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 101
Searching for the Image of the Village in the Swirl of 20th Century Ideological Conflicts 101
lany, deceits, false contracts, financial currents etc. (Bogataj 2009). Even
more so, the environment is full of primitivism, ignorance, mental aridi-
ty and emptiness. Reviewer Lucija Stepančič describes it as a topos of the
village which equates to a madhouse of caricatures, a decadent corner,
full with idiots, where the axis of relevance is the village pub (Stepančič
2008, 1462).
A similarly disdainful attitude, even more briefly expressed, can be
found in the novels by Goran Vojnović Čefurji, raus! (2008) and Jugo-
slavija moja dežela (2013), in both it is stated with the same simile: “And
you know where Slovenske Konjice are? You know where this fucking vil-
lage is?”, and:
What will I do with all those Slovenian villagers? What will I do there?
Should I attend the village firemen’s balls, or what? I’m the čefur from
Fužine. I don’t give a damn about those Slovenske Konjice! (Vojnović 2008,
140).7
In Jugoslavija moja dežela we read:
And I do not ask you, you know … just for nothing, where you are going. I
guess, I don’t give a shit, go, where you wanna go … even to Slovenske Kon-
jice, but the difference is in the fact, if you’ll go upthere, or downthere (Voj
nović 2012, 21).8
The village of Slovenske Konjice (5,000 inhabitants) is used as a byword
for secludedness, marginality expressed by the characters always with an
expression of extreme contempt and with a significantly disdainful taunt.
A remarkable portrait of the village can be found in the novel Angel
pozabe (2011) by Maja Haderlap (1967), where, inter alia, the very trans-
formation of the old archaic patriarchal countryside, in closely tied to the
land and farming on it, present in the memories of the narrator’s grand-
mother, which is terribly affected by the war that pits neighbours against
one another:
Many survivors will leave their farms and estates. They will no longer want
to look after their homesteads because they are marked by the war. They
will starve the memories of war with their silence. They will be afraid of
being identified as wounded losers, for what could further multiply their
7 “A ti veš, kje so Slovenske Konjice? A veš, kje je to jebeno selo?” … “Kaj bom jst tm s
tistimi seljaci slovenskimi? Kaj naj tm delam? A nej hodm na gasilske veselice al kaj?
Jst sm čefur s Fužin. Ne jebem jst teh Slovenskih Konjic!”
8 “Ne vprašam te jaz, veš … zastonj, kam greš. Mislim, boli me kurac, ti pejt, kam hočeš
… pa makar i u Slovenske Konjice, ampak je razlika v tem, a boš šel gor ali dol.”
lany, deceits, false contracts, financial currents etc. (Bogataj 2009). Even
more so, the environment is full of primitivism, ignorance, mental aridi-
ty and emptiness. Reviewer Lucija Stepančič describes it as a topos of the
village which equates to a madhouse of caricatures, a decadent corner,
full with idiots, where the axis of relevance is the village pub (Stepančič
2008, 1462).
A similarly disdainful attitude, even more briefly expressed, can be
found in the novels by Goran Vojnović Čefurji, raus! (2008) and Jugo-
slavija moja dežela (2013), in both it is stated with the same simile: “And
you know where Slovenske Konjice are? You know where this fucking vil-
lage is?”, and:
What will I do with all those Slovenian villagers? What will I do there?
Should I attend the village firemen’s balls, or what? I’m the čefur from
Fužine. I don’t give a damn about those Slovenske Konjice! (Vojnović 2008,
140).7
In Jugoslavija moja dežela we read:
And I do not ask you, you know … just for nothing, where you are going. I
guess, I don’t give a shit, go, where you wanna go … even to Slovenske Kon-
jice, but the difference is in the fact, if you’ll go upthere, or downthere (Voj
nović 2012, 21).8
The village of Slovenske Konjice (5,000 inhabitants) is used as a byword
for secludedness, marginality expressed by the characters always with an
expression of extreme contempt and with a significantly disdainful taunt.
A remarkable portrait of the village can be found in the novel Angel
pozabe (2011) by Maja Haderlap (1967), where, inter alia, the very trans-
formation of the old archaic patriarchal countryside, in closely tied to the
land and farming on it, present in the memories of the narrator’s grand-
mother, which is terribly affected by the war that pits neighbours against
one another:
Many survivors will leave their farms and estates. They will no longer want
to look after their homesteads because they are marked by the war. They
will starve the memories of war with their silence. They will be afraid of
being identified as wounded losers, for what could further multiply their
7 “A ti veš, kje so Slovenske Konjice? A veš, kje je to jebeno selo?” … “Kaj bom jst tm s
tistimi seljaci slovenskimi? Kaj naj tm delam? A nej hodm na gasilske veselice al kaj?
Jst sm čefur s Fužin. Ne jebem jst teh Slovenskih Konjic!”
8 “Ne vprašam te jaz, veš … zastonj, kam greš. Mislim, boli me kurac, ti pejt, kam hočeš
… pa makar i u Slovenske Konjice, ampak je razlika v tem, a boš šel gor ali dol.”
