France Prešeren\u27s Poetry in Literature Textbooks for Secondary Schools and it\u27s Reception

Disertacija obravnava dva problemska sklopa: poezijo Franceta Prešerna v srednješolskih učbenikih za pouk književnosti od leta 1850 do leta 2010 ter recepcijo Prešernovih pesmi skozi čas in v sodobnosti. V prvem problemskem sklopu razkriva dejavnike in postopke šolske kanonizacije Prešerna ter razvoj didaktizacije beril v smeri učne knjige za samostojno delo z besedilom. V drugem problemskem sklopu raziskuje posebnosti pri razumevanju, doživljanju in vrednotenju Prešernovih pesmi ter načine za njihovo čimbolj učinkovito šolsko predstavitev. Glede na to, da se je kanonizacija Prešerna začela že za časa njegovega življenja, je bil seveda vseh 160 let kanonski avtor, vendar pa kljub nenehnemu označevanju Prešerna za "največjega slovenskega pesnika" po številu besedilnih enot v berilih ni bil vedno prvi avtor, pač pa so ga večkrat prehitevali mlajši književniki, ki so bolj ustrezali trenutnim afinitetam sestavljavcev srednješolskih beril. Predvsem v drugi polovici 19. stoletja in tudi kasneje je bil zaradi negativnega odnosa šolskih oblasti do ljubezenske poezije izbor Prešernovih pesmi praviloma manj primeren (na nižji stopnji je bil največkrat objavljen sonet Memento mori, na višji stopnji pa cikel Soneti nesreče), nekatere ljubezenske pesmi pa so celo cenzurirali. Od druge polovice 19. stoletja do danes se je razvijal didaktični instrumentarij srednješolskih beril (najprej so začeli dodajati stvarne opombe, kasneje pa še vprašanja in naloge za dejavno razčlembo leposlovnega besedila), vendar so še zlasti v obdobju po drugi svetovni vojni nekateri sestavi beril didaktično pomenili izrazito nazadovanje. Od sedemdesetih let dalje berila vključujejo tako literarnovedne vsebine kot vprašanja in naloge, sodobna berila pa se praviloma (izjema je npr. antološki sestav Krakar 2003) razvijajo v smeri vezanega berila z relativno majhno ponudbo leposlovnih besedil. Zgodovinski pregled je pokazal, da so imeli težave z razumevanjem Prešernovih pesmi že njegovi sodobniki, kasneje pa tudi izobraženci, celo poznavalci Prešerna. Empirični preizkusi med slovenskimi srednješolci potrjujejo visoko recepcijsko zahtevnost Prešernove poezije. Nekatere osrednje Prešernove pesmi (npr. Krst pri Savici) zahtevajo izjemno gostoto dodanih opomb, zato je najustreznejše didaktično sredstvo za boljše razumevanje in doživljanje oblikovno in slogovno zahtevne klasične poezije dodana prozifikacija, kar so v celoti potrdili tudi rezultati pedagoškega eksperimenta.This doctoral thesis focuses on two main problem areas: France Prešeren’s poetry in literature textbooks for secondary schools in the period from 1850 to 2010 and its perception throughout time and today. In the first problem area it illustrates the factors and procedures of the poet’s school canonization and how the didactization of the textbook as an aid for individual work with literary texts has developed. In the second problem area it explores both the characteristic features in the understanding, experiencing and evaluating Prešeren’s poetry, and the methods for an efficient school presentation. Prešeren has been a canonical author throughout all these 160 years, due to the fact that his canonization started while he was still alive. However, although he has always been referred to as “the greatest Slovenian poet”, he has not always been the leading author regarding the number of text units in textbooks. In fact, he was often overtaken by younger literates who were better-suited to the textbook editors’ affinities of the time. Particularly, in the second part of the 19th century, and even later, due to a negative attitude of the school authorities towards love poetry, the selection of Prešeren’s poems was considered less appropriate (for the lower stage, the sonnet Memento mori was usually published, whereas the students of the higher stage read the sonnet cycle Soneti nesreče [Sonnets of Unhappiness]). Some of the love poems were even censured. From the second half of the 19th century onwards a didactic instrumentarium of high-school textbooks has been in constant development (at first, notes were added, followed by questions and exercises for an active analysis of a literary work). But still, some compositions of textbooks showed a great didactic regression, especially in the period after World War II. The textbooks created since the Seventies include texts on literary studies as well as questions and exercises, whereas modern textbooks tend to develop in the direction of textbooks which only contain texts linked to the curriculum, and offer a relatively small range of literary works (except for, e.g. the Krakar’s anthology from 2003). A historical review has shown that even Prešeren’s contemporaries had difficulty in understanding his poems, and so did intellectuals or even Prešeren scholars later on. Empirical experiments among Slovene secondary-school students have proved that Prešeren’s poetry is difficult to interpret. Some of his most important poems (i.e. Krst pri Savici [The Baptism by the Savica]) require a large amount of footnotes. This is why the most adequate didactic measure to improve the experiencing of a stylistically demanding classical poetry is the prosification of the poem that comes as an appendix to the original – a fact that was fully confirmed by the results of the pedagogical experiment