Glasnik SED 20 (1980) 1
18
ETHNOLOGY AND ECOLOGICAL	Pavle Merkü: Ljudsko izročilo Slovencev v Italiji
PSYCHOLOGY	(Folk Tradition In Italy). Le tradizioni popolari
degli Sloveni in Italia. Collected in 1965—1974. Trst, Tržaški tisk Publishing House. 471 pages, ill.
Conferences about different points of view regarding the relation between man and his environment (about violence and architecture, urban geography, about ecological psychology, about ethnology and architecture), which have recently been organized in Slovenia by various professions, all point to actuality and depth of problems as well as the growth of awareness about discordancy between ourselves and the world in which we live. Those problems are opening up new theorethical and applicative scientific tasks of interdisciplinary character.
Bi!Ungual presentation of folk creativity of the Slovenes in Friuti- Venezio Giulia, Resia, Gorizia and Trieste region (Italy) includes folk son/; tradition, folk wisdom and sayings, legendes, enchantments etc. The material {609 units) is arranged according to the territorial principle.
The author surmounted the standardization of similar collections by paying more attention to matters which were overlooked by other researchers. Here we ought to mention church folk songs, especially from the Resia region, which have been prosecuted from the very beginning. The author presented many hitherto unknown valuables, but also accepted the songs which are well known throughout the whole Slovenia, and emphasized permanent contacts be!ween Slovenes in Slovenia and Slovenes in Friuti- Venezia~Giulia. A possibility of comparative studies thus opened to slavish and ethnologists of both nations.
This book will enable the Italian nation to become acquainted with one of lis ethnic minorities and its culture, but is also a valuable discovery for our country and our /jeople.
Marko Terseglav
The 7th Conference of Psychologists of SRS in Portoroi (November 14—17, 1979) has also been attended by four ethnologists who accepted the invitation of the organizer and presented their contributions in the Ecological Psychology Group. Damjan Ovsec's report was entitled "Meaning of 'he Urban Space In Ljubljana In the Past And Today,", Mojca Ravnik's "Way Of Life And Urban Planning of Living Enviroment" and Zvona Ciglii and Zora Zagar's "Revitalization Of the Old To wn N ucleus In Izola — An Ethnological Exhibit. " The response of the audience showed that these reports have not been in vain, that they have provoked a number of interesting problems to Psychologists. The participants of the following debate responded, above all, to the questions about the way of living and feeling of housing community inhabitants, urban identity and the assurance of its unwterupted existence, significance of social life regarding the relation of the inhabitants to their enviroment, and about establishing and asserting the wishes of the inhabitants regarding the revitalization °J the old town nucleus. Because of the novelty and versatility of the subject the discussion has not expanded extremely; instead, it has showed the créas of interests and contributions of both
Professions.
Mojca Ravnik
Zmaga Kumer: Slovenska ljudska pesem (The Folk Song of Slovenia), Maribor, Obzorja 1975. 679 pages, mus. not., ill., 2 single records. English résumé.
The book represents a selection of Slovene folk song creativity. When compiling and selecting the songs, the author followed broader scientific criterions. The songs are thus evenly taken front all ¡wis of Slovene ethnic territory according to variety and mode of singing (male or female voices, unison, chorus singing).
When the author arranged the material, she avoided the standard de vision and did not organize the songs according to contents or metrical or musical patterns, but within the framework of the calendar year from the beginning of spring to the end of winter and arranged eighteen corresponding cycles of songs around it. Folk song thus Ixcomes a living companion to a Slovene man. h ceases to function as a dead archaic form and is transformed into a living organism.
The author supplemented the 537 examples of folk songs with a short introduction and a 108 page-long study about the function, meaning, formation and music illustration of these songs. A longer résumé and shorter sum maries of the songs are also translated into English. This interesting material is further refreshed by documentary field recordings on two records.
The book is designed, above all, for scientific research, but is also interesting for a wider circle of readers because it is written in a clear and comprehensible manner.
Marko Terseglav