Poetry Here and Now: Explorations of Poetic Discourses in 21st Century Slavic Literary Fields

8. SLAVIC SCIENTIFIC REFLECTIONS

Poetry Here and Now: Explorations of Poetic Discourses in 21st Century Slavic Literary Fields

Date of the conference: 21 – 23 May 2025

Location:  Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor, Slovenia

The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Maribor, in collaboration with the Slavic Association Maribor, requests your kind participation in the 8th International Conference on Slavic Scientific Reflections. This event is scheduled to take place from 21st to 23rd May at the Faculty of Arts in Maribor, Slovenia.

The eighth edition of the conference Slavic Scientific Reflections focuses its research interest on developments in the poetry of Slavic languages and cultures from 2000 to the present. Contemporary literary theory, especially in line with the theoretical heritage of Romanticism, has often defined lyric poetry as a highly subjective and monological genre, even at the end of the 20th century. But the complexity of the configuration of poetic texts in the history of poetry has often undermined the theory, especially with regard to the question of the poetic subject, and contemporary production, with its diversity of practices, has further brought this fact to light. After 2000, it has become even more evident that the notion of lyric discourse as an inward-looking artistic practice that does not involve sociality and does not dialogue with other discourses is no longer tenable.

In the context of the global present, recent poetry has significantly uplifted the field of artistic production and has once again entered more visibly into the public sphere with new practices and strategies. This has been facilitated by the advent of the (post-)digital age, which, with new media and new channels of communication, has also led to a reconfiguration of the circulation of literary works.

In the context of Slavic cultures, the reconstruction of the functions of literature itself and, in some cultures, especially of poetry as an eminent genre with a specific national-identity role, took place simultaneously in socio-national contexts against the background of the collapse of socio-political systems after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Entering the 21st century in the context of Slavic literary fields therefore also means entering the second decade of transition and/or the post-transition period.
 

After a prolonged period of declining interest in theoretical questions, theoretical reflection on lyric has experienced a remarkable revival since 2005, and the impression is that theoretical production has been on the rise since 2015. It could even be argued that the ongoing analytical practice and reflections on individual poetic phenomena are lagging behind theory. Against the backdrop of the enrichment of theory fo the lyric with new insights and its analysis with more recent methodological approaches (transnarratology, corpus analysis, stylometry, cognitive poetics, ecocriticism, critical animal studies, etc.), this conference aims to fill this potential gap and stimulate new reflections.

We are interested to see how fruitful recent theoretical premises prove to be when applied to poetic discourses emerging at a time of intertwining crises that are affecting the present - from the environmental, to the migratory, to the refugee crisis. What does poetry have to say in an increasingly apocalyptic time of new wars and new realities in which we find ourselves after the pandemic crisis? What are the new strategies of poetry, in which new media is it being realised? What is its relationship with other artistic practices? How does the poetic subject manifest itself in the new poetry emerging in Slavic contexts? What is the role of poetic discourses in Slavic literary fields after 2000? These are just some of the questions we will address and reflect upon.

Contributions on a wide range of topics are welcomed. Kindly refer to the attached Cfp for further details.

Proposals of 300-500 words in the language of the paper and in English translation are to be submitted by 7 March 2025 to SZP2025@proton.me. Selection will be communicated to applicants by 20 March 2025. 

The working languages of the conference are all Slavic languages and English.

Should you have any questions, please direct them to Varja Balžalorsky Antić (varja.balzalorsky@um.si).

We look forward to seeing you in Maribor!