Acknowledgements

The preparation of any anthology is always a tricky task. The editor has to negotiate treacherous grounds between the available translations, the representative character of the work included, and the relatively even distribution of writers across the generations, styles, and aesthetic directions. Often, not one writer is happy with the anthology. Still, in putting together this anthology, I was guided by the principle of representation and illustration. Limited by the time frame of the post-Second World War as a major threshold in the life of a nation, a period to which many contemporary Slovenian writers either openly or in a veiled way refer in their works, I attempted to present what is nearly impossible: a relatively balanced picture.

Not every single text featured here, of course, is necessarily "the best" in its genre. My personal taste notwithstanding, I believe, however, that the cumulative effect of the texts does offer at least a general insight into a variety of aesthetic styles as well as an open window into some of the recurring themes in contemporary Slovenian letters. In addition, I am convinced that the contemporary, that is, post-Second World War writing by Slovenian authors warrants the attention of international readership.

This is all the more urgent in light of the sad fact that no comprehensive anthology of this kind, bringing together modern Slovenian writers of different genres and generations, exists in English translation. The reasons for this collective absence on the international literary map may be inferred from my introduction. Slovenians have had no independent nation-state until yesterday, as it were, and hence no immediate recognition was possible in various artistic fields either.

Individual exceptions that prove the rule do, of course, exist. Drago Jancar in fiction and Tomaz Salamun in poetry come to mind here. However, lacking the self-evident and somewhat "natural" context of national literary writing and cultural milieu at large, such writers more often than not remained in a kind of imaginative vacuum. The present anthology was prepared in an attempt to make a first step toward filling this vacuum, that may it be followed by many more.

The anthology could have not seen the light of day had it not been for the unflagging support and courageous, enthusiastic, and underpaid assistance of several persons.

Betsy Bundschuh, a transplanted New York editor who settled in Slovenian capital city by chance, was involved in the preparation of this volume from the very inception. I am more than grateful for her excellent language editing and copyrights expertise. Betsy’s astute, if guarded comments and an almost religious commitment with which she addressed countless important, though in hindsight unreasonably little tasks will continue to remind me of the thankless editorial task. Betsy, stay in Ljubljana, we need you!

Andrej Blatnik, himself an experienced editor, handled the financial matters and numerous technical aspects of book production with his proverbial proficiency and cheerful spirit, these trade-marks of his dedication to a promotion of literary works other than his own.

Baska Stanič took time off from her double job as an administrative assistant at the Slovenian Writers Association and a Ph.D. candidate in history, to help shepherd this publication to press. I could only appreciate her attentive research and logistical support. The latter was in no small way extended by Barbara Subert as well. As a secretary of the Slovenian Writers Association, she made sure that the Association’s downtown office was available for many a frantic meeting.

Erica Johnson Debeljak, my understanding wife and an intellectual companion, did more than translate a few pieces for this book. Her Manhattan-savvy mind and Californian passion helped her to quickly learn Slovenian and thus be able to get into the spirit of my long-winded sentences the better to detect occasional abuses adopted American English suffered at my hands.

Credit must be also given to Ali H. Žerdin for providing access to Ivo Štandeker’s essay. Last but not least, I need to thank my little daughter and son, Klara and Simon, who may have not known it but have given me a sense of purpose and nurtured me as only children can. In a particular way, this anthology is meant for them as they grow up between the two worlds, Slovenian of their father and American of their mother, with their lives and souls building fragile bridges that nonetheless span the cultures. It is in this fragility that the understanding of the others is locked. It is this hope to reach beyond one’s own tradition that ultimately enriches us. "Imagination of Terra Incognita: Slovenian Writing 1945-1995" was prepared with just such fragility and hope in mind.

All of us, collaborators in this anthology, traveled into the forms of Slovenian creativity participating in an exciting and frustrating journey. May you, an inquisitive reader, enjoy the former and disregard the latter. The imagination of Terra incognita, to use Drago Jančar’s metaphor for Slovenia, waits to be discovered.