Abstract:

As in all Central Europe, the historical novel was very popular in Slovenia during the 19th century. Though the territory inhabitated by Slovenes was never part of Osman’s Empire, the theme of the long lasting incursions of turkish armed forces, which remained alive in the oral tradition, became the most frequent theme of povest, the short novel with historical subject. With different characters like boys transformed in janissaries, young women took away into the sultan’s harem, etc, the authors tried to present the national past as a struggle for freedom and thus intensify the national cohesion. In those works Turcs represented evil and Slovenes good, without great nuances.

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