Foreword
❦ Marijan Dović, Luka viDMar
9
SLAVICA TERGESTINA 26 (2021/I) ▶ Habsburg Censorship and Literature in the Slovenian Lands
This thematic issue of Slavica Tergestina was written as part of the project 
Slovenian Writers and Imperial Censorship in the Long Nineteenth Century 
(J6-2583), financially supported by the Slovenian Research Agency. The 
three-year project (2020–2023), led by Marijan Dović, continues the 
long-term research on censorship conducted in recent years by the ZRC 
SAZU Institute of Slovenian Literature and Literary Studies, and it fol-
lows up on the previous project Forbidden Books in the Slovenian Lands 
in the Early Modern Age, the first systematic study of book censorship 
in Slovenia in this period, supervised by Luka Vidmar at the institute 
from 2016 to 2018.
This research is motivated by two basic premises; namely, that the 
nature of censorship practices is both constitutive and concealed. 
Censorship fundamentally shapes the landscape of the printed (and 
publicly spoken) word, but its traces often remain faint or are even 
erased. We are delving into an area that has been unsystematically 
researched so far because scholars have mostly focused on prominent 
individual cases and, more often than not, they have narrowed their 
attention to Slovenian territory due to the prevailing nationalist ori-
entation of Slovenian philological disciplines, even though the centers 
of censorship policies were far away, in Vienna and Rome. The new 
millennium has brought renewed interest in censorship in Slovenia (cf. 
the bilingual thematic issue of Primerjalna književnost titled Literature 
and Censorship, edited by Marijan Dović, 2008; the collection of essays 
Cenzurirano [Censored], edited by Mateja Režek, 2010; the bilingual 
volume and exhibition And Yet They Read Them: Banned Books in Slovenia 
in the Early Modern Age by Luka Vidmar and Sonja Svoljšak, 2018; and 
the collection Cenzura na Slovenskem od protireformacije do predmarčne 
dobe [Censorship in Slovenia from the Counter-Reformation to the 
Pre-March Period], edited by Luka Vidmar, 2020). In addition, new 
10
MARIJAN DOVIĆ, LUKA VIDMAR ▶ Foreword
large-scale studies on censorship in the Habsburg Monarchy (by Nor-
bert Bachleitner, Michael Wögerbauer, Thomas Olechowski, and others) 
appeared, which finally allow more comprehensive insight into what 
was happening in the individual provinces.
This thematic issue, intended for scholars that do not read Slovenian, 
clearly presents a historical cross-section of events in Slovenia, taking 
advantage of the panorama of the longue durée—the period from the 
beginning of the early modern age, marked by the invention of mov-
able type, to the First World War, when radicalized war censorship 
came into effect, and the subsequent collapse of the empire. The spatial 
framework is provided by the Slovenian lands under the Habsburg 
crown (mainly Carniola, but also Carinthia and Styria); however, the 
local events are observed in the context of broader ecclesiastical and 
imperial censorship as well as in connection to other literary cultures 
(Latin, German-Austrian, Italian, Czech, Croatian, and Hungarian) that 
often coexisted in the same space. In line with the project premises, the 
studies focus in particular on censorship in the strict, narrower sense; 
that is, institutionalized forms of control over the circulation of texts, 
the essential dimension of which is the capacity to sanction, exercised 
by the repressive apparatus of the state.
Several articles in this thematic issue were already published in Slo-
venian in the 2020 volume Cenzura na Slovenskem od protireformacije 
do predmarčne dobe [Censorship in Slovenia from the Counter-Reforma-
tion to the Pre-March Period], and here we offer them in translation, 
only slightly abridged and adapted for non-Slovenian readers (Ditma-
jer, Deželak Trojar, Pastar, Ogrin, Svoljšak, and Juvan). One article has 
been thoroughly revised (Dović), and some are completely new (Dović 
and Vidmar, Bachleitner, Vidmar, and Perenič). We want to thank the 
company DEKS, especially Simona Lapanja and Donald Reindl, for the 
11
SLAVICA TERGESTINA 26 (2021/I) ▶ Habsburg Censorship and Literature in the Slovenian Lands
excellent translations produced in close collaboration with the authors. 
We also thank the editors of Slavica Tergestina for the invitation and the 
opportunity to see this first effort at an overview of censorship practices 
in the Slovenian lands published in a journal based in the city that was 
once the central commercial port of the Habsburg Monarchy.
***
This thematic issue consists of eleven articles. Marijan Dović and Luka 
Vidmar discuss censorship in the Slovenian lands from the Reforma-
tion to the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy, and in the conclusion 
they indicate opportunities for further research. Norbert Bachleitner 
outlines the development of censorship throughout the monarchy, 
especially in the Austrian provinces, during the crucial period of its 
secularization and institutional consolidation—from 1751 to the par-
tial abolition brought about by the 1848 March Revolution. The sub-
sequent articles, arranged chronologically, deal in greater detail with 
developments in censorship in the Slovenian lands. The first two focus 
on ecclesiastical censorship and religiously controversial books in the 
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Nina Ditmajer presents the 
banned, mostly Protestant books that were kept in the libraries of the 
Capuchin, Minorite, Dominican, and Franciscan monasteries in Lower 
Styria. Monika Deželak Trojar explains the circumstances of the origin 
and placement on the Index librorum prohibitorum of two (or three) Ma-
riological works of the polymath Johann Ludwig Schönleben, one of the 
most important Carniolan intellectuals of the seventeenth century.
The next four articles focus on the effects of secularized censor-
ship on the book market, literature, and readers in the last decades 
of the eighteenth century and the first decades of the nineteenth 
12
MARIJAN DOVIĆ, LUKA VIDMAR ▶ Foreword
century. Luka Vidmar describes the secularization of censorship 
in the Habsburg hereditary lands under Maria Theresa and, using 
examples from Carniola, draws attention not only to changes but also 
to the continuation of the tradition of the old imperial and ecclesias-
tical censorship. By analyzing newspapers, bookselling catalogs, and 
some libraries, Andrej Pastar shows which intellectual and booksell-
ing circles in Ljubljana benefited most from the censorship reforms 
of Emperor Joseph II. Matija Ogrin presents the darker side of the 
censorship of the time, which prevented or at least helped prevent the 
printing of a number of Slovenian manuscripts with traditional Catho-
lic content, including translations and adaptations of works by Martin 
of Cochem. Based on an investigation of book collections and archival 
documents in the National and University Library in Ljubljana, Sonja 
Svoljšak determines the extent to which the banned works of French, 
English, and American philosophers were distributed in Carniola.
The last three articles deal with censorship from the Pre-March 
period to the First World War. In his analysis of the well-known censor-
ship of the Slovenian poetry almanac Krajnska čbelica, Marko Juvan uses 
the example of Jernej Kopitar to discuss the paradox of this Habsburg 
censor that functioned simultaneously as an instrument of imperial 
control and as a respected literary expert. Marijan Dović examines how 
Slovenian writers, poets, playwrights, journalists, and publishers coped 
with retroactive censorship after 1848, when censorship—by means 
of courtrooms—became primarily a repressive authoritarian mech-
anism for suppressing opposition, especially nationalist tendencies. 
Finally, with the help of documentary material from the Dramatic 
Society in Ljubljana, kept by the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia, 
Urška Perenič demonstrates that the power of theater censorship did 
not diminish between 1891 and 1904, but possibly even grew stronger. ❦ 
13
SLAVICA TERGESTINA 26 (2021/I) ▶ Habsburg Censorship and Literature in the Slovenian Lands
Predgovor
❦ Marijan Dović, Luka viDMar
15
SLAVICA TERGESTINA 26 (2021/I) ▶ Habsburg Censorship and Literature in the Slovenian Lands
Tematska številka revije Slavica Tergestina, ki je pred vami, je nastala 
kot del projekta Slovenski literati in cesarska cenzura v dolgem devetnajstem 
stoletju (J6-2583), ki ga sofinancira Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejav-
nost Republike Slovenije. Triletni projekt (2020–2023) pod vodstvom 
Marijana Dovića nadaljuje niz raziskav cenzure, ki jih v zadnjih le-
tih izvaja Inštitut za slovensko literaturo in literarne vede ZRC SAZU, 
in se neposredno navezuje na predhodni projekt Prepovedane knjige 
na Slovenskem v zgodnjem novem veku, prvo sistematično raziskavo knji-
žne cenzure na Slovenskem v tem obdobju, ki jo je na inštitutu v letih 
2016–2018 vodil Luka Vidmar.
Omenjeni raziskavi sta motivirani z izhodiščnima premisama o kon-
stitutivnosti in prikritosti cenzurnih praks: cenzura namreč temeljno 
zaznamuje pokrajino tiskane (in javno govorjene) besede, pri čemer 
njene sledi pogosto ostajajo blede ali celo izbrisane. Posegamo na po-
dročje, ki je bilo doslej nesistematično raziskano, saj so se raziskovalci 
večinoma posvečali odmevnim partikularnim primerom, poleg tega 
pa je bila njihova pozornost zaradi prevladujoče nacionalistične usme-
ritve slovenskih filoloških disciplin zožena na slovenski prostor – četudi 
so bila središča cenzurnih politik daleč stran, zlasti na Dunaju in v Rimu. 
Novo tisočletje je v tem pogledu v slovenskem prostoru prineslo sveže 
zanimanje za cenzuro (prim. dvojezično tematsko številko Primerjalne 
književnosti Literatura in cenzura, ur. Marijan Dović, 2008; zbornik Cen-
zurirano, ur. Mateja Režek, 2010; dvojezično razstavo in knjigo In vendar 
so jih brali: prepovedane knjige v zgodnjem novem veku Luke Vidmarja 
in Sonje Svoljšak, 2018; zbornik Cenzura na Slovenskem od protireformacije 
do predmarčne dobe, ur. Luka Vidmar, 2020), še zlasti pa so se pojavile 
nove pregledne študije in zborniki o cenzuri v habsburški monarhiji 
(Norbert Bachleitner, Michael Wögerbauer, Thomas Olechowski idr.), 
16
MARIJAN DOVIĆ, LUKA VIDMAR ▶ Predgovor
ki nam naposled omogočajo bolj celovit vpogled tudi v dogajanje v po-
sameznih deželah.
V tej tematski številki, namenjeni raziskovalcem, ki ne berejo slo-
vensko, želimo pregledno predstaviti historični prerez dogajanja v slo-
venskem prostoru, pri čemer si obetamo izkoristiti prednosti, ki jih 
prinaša panoramski pogled na t. i. dolgo obdobje (»longue durée«) – čas 
od začetka zgodnjega novega veka, ki ga je zaznamoval izum tiska s pre-
mičnimi črkami, tja do razpada monarhije oziroma do prve svetovne 
vojne, med katero je v veljavo stopil radikalizirani cenzurni režim. 
Prostorski okvir predstavljajo slovenske dežele v habsburški monarhiji 
(zlasti Kranjska, a tudi Koroška in Štajerska), pri čemer je dogajanje ves 
čas vpeto v kontekst cerkvene in imperialne cenzure in v kontekste 
drugih literarnih kultur (latinske, nemškoavstrijske, italijanske, češke, 
hrvaške, madžarske), ki so pogosto sobivale v istem prostoru. Osredoto-
čamo se zlasti na cenzuro v ožjem smislu, tj. institucionalizirane oblike 
nadzora nad cirkulacijo besedil, katerih bistvena razsežnost je zmožnost 
sankcioniranja, udejanjena z represivnim aparatom države.
Nekatere razprave v tej številki so bile predhodno že objavljene v slo-
venskem jeziku v zborniku Cenzura na Slovenskem od protireformacije 
do predmarčne dobe in jih tu prinašamo v prevodu le nekoliko skrajšane 
in prirejene neslovenskemu bralcu (Ditmajer, Deželak Trojar, Pastar, 
Ogrin, Svoljšak, Juvan), ena je bila temeljito predelana (Dović), nekatere 
pa so povsem nove (Dović in Vidmar, Bachleitner, Vidmar, Perenič). 
Za odlične prevode, ki so nastajali v živahnem sodelovanju z avtorji, 
se zahvaljujeva podjetju Deks, zlasti Simoni Lapanja in Donaldu Rein-
dlu. Uredništvu revije Slavica Tergestina pa sva hvaležna za povabilo 
in priložnost, da ta prvi poskus pregleda cenzurnega dogajanja v slo-
venskih deželah luč sveta zagleda v reviji, ki izhaja v nekdaj osrednjem 
trgovskem pristanišču habsburške monarhije.
17
SLAVICA TERGESTINA 26 (2021/I) ▶ Habsburg Censorship and Literature in the Slovenian Lands
***
Tematska številka obsega enajst razprav. Marijan Dović in Luka Vidmar 
pregledno obravnavata cenzuro v slovenskih deželah od reformacije 
do razpada habsburške monarhije, na koncu pa nakažeta možnosti na-
daljnjih sintetičnih raziskav. Norbert Bachleitner oriše razvoj cenzure 
v celotni monarhiji, posebej v avstrijskih deželah, v ključnem obdobju 
njene sekularizacije in institucionalne konsolidacije – od leta 1751 vse 
do sprostitve, ki jo je prinesla marčna revolucija. Naslednje študije, 
ki so razvrščene kronološko, podrobneje obravnavajo dogajanje na po-
dročju cenzure v slovenskem prostoru. Prvi dve se ukvarjata predvsem 
s cerkveno cenzuro in z versko spornimi knjigami v 17. in 18. stoletju. 
Nina Ditmajer predstavlja prepovedane, največkrat protestantske knji-
ge, ki so jih hranile knjižnice kapucinskih, minoritskih, dominikanskih 
in frančiškanskih samostanov na Spodnjem Štajerskem. Monika Deže-
lak Trojar pojasnjuje okoliščine nastanka in uvrstitve dveh oziroma treh 
marioloških del polihistorja Janeza Ludvika Schönlebna, enega glavnih 
kranjskih intelektualcev 17. stoletja, na Index librorum prohibitorum.
Naslednje štiri razprave se ukvarjajo z vplivom sekularizirane 
cenzure na knjižni trg, književnost in bralce v zadnjih desetletjih 18. 
in prvih desetletjih 19. stoletja. Luka Vidmar opiše sekularizacijo cen-
zure v habsburških dednih deželah pod Marijo Terezijo, pri čemer 
s pomočjo primerov iz Kranjske ne opozarja le na spremembe, temveč 
tudi na nadaljevanje tradicije stare habsburške in cerkvene cenzure. 
Andrej Pastar na podlagi analize časnikov, knjigotrških katalogov in po-
datkov o knjižnicah ugotavlja, katerim intelektualnim in knjigotrškim 
krogom v Ljubljani so najbolj koristile cenzurne reforme cesarja Jožefa 
II. Matija Ogrin predstavlja drugo, temno plat tedanje cenzure, ki je pre-
prečila ali vsaj pomagala preprečiti natis vrste slovenskih rokopisov 
18
MARIJAN DOVIĆ, LUKA VIDMAR ▶ Predgovor
s tradicionalnimi katoliškimi vsebinami, med njimi prevodov in pre-
delav del Martina Cochemskega. Sonja Svoljšak na podlagi raziskave 
knjižnih zbirk in arhivskih dokumentov v Narodni in univerzitetni 
knjižnici v Ljubljani ugotavlja, v kolikšni meri so bila razširjena pre-
povedana dela francoskih, angleških in ameriških filozofov.
Zadnji trije prispevki se ukvarjajo s cenzuro od predmarčne dobe 
do prve svetovne vojne. Marko Juvan v novi obravnavi znamenite cen-
zure slovenskega pesniškega almanaha Krajnska čbelica na primeru 
Jerneja Kopitarja obravnava paradoks habsburškega cenzorja, ki hkrati 
deluje kot instrument imperialnega nadzora in kot cenjen literarni stro-
kovnjak. Marijan Dović raziskuje, kako so se slovenski pisatelji, pesniki, 
dramatiki, novinarji in založniki znašli po letu 1848, ko je retroaktivna 
cenzura postala predvsem represivni oblastni mehanizem za zatiranje 
opozicije, posebej nacionalističnih teženj. Urška Perenič pa s pomočjo 
dokumentarnega gradiva Dramatičnega društva v Ljubljani, ki ga hrani 
Arhiv Republike Slovenije, pokaže, da moč gledališke cenzure med 
letoma 1891 in 1904 še ni pojemala, ampak se je morda celo krepila. ❦