Raziskava bo tezo o političnoemancipacijski vlogi slovenske literature v obdobju 1945–1991 poskušala potrditi z določitvijo in interpretacijo najrelevantnejših tekstov povojne slovenske literature, z njihovo primerjalno kontekstualizacijo, pa tudi z analizo njihove recepcije in »družbenega učinkovanja«. V ta okvir sodi tudi pretres pomembnejših literarnih smeri in žanrske specifike te dobe, ključnih avtorjev in del.

Opravljena bo primerjalna strukturna analiza razmerja med slovensko literaturo in družbeno realnostjo v 19. stoletju in v letih 1945–1991. Ta analiza bo lahko delno osvetlila, ali gre pri tem razmerju za strukturne konstante slovenske literature ali pa je narava tega razmerja podvržena spremembam.

Vsebinsko najpomembnejši del raziskave se bo posvečal slovenski literarni produkciji in celotnemu slovenskemu literarnemu polju po osamosvojitvi. Z literarnozgodovinskega vidika gre za obdobje heterogenosti, sinkretičnosti in pluralnosti, ki ga zaznamuje odsotnost ene same, prevladujoče literarne smeri, obdobje, ki je, ne nazadnje, slovensko literarno zgodovinopisje prisililo, da išče nove modele literarnega zgodovinopisja, alternativnega kontinuitetnemu. Ena od predpostavk raziskave je, da so se vse pomembnejše družbene spremembe, pa tudi sicer pomembno družbeno dogajanje v tem obdobju (vstop v EU, NATO, za Slovenijo specifični problem t. i. izbrisanih državljanov ali prav tako značilna reaktualizacija narodove razdvojenosti med drugo svetovno vojno, romska problematika, protiglobalizem in protikorporativizem, begunska kriza, jugonostalgija itn.), tako ali drugače izrazile tudi v literarni produkciji. Iz tega sklopa sledijo dodatni štirje cilji raziskave:

Opravljena bo interpretacija in literarno-sociološka analiza najvidnejših ali za namene raziskave najreprezentativnejših proznih, pesniških in dramskih del tega obdobja.

Na podlagi teh analiz in interpretacij bo izpeljana posebna tipologija poosamosvojitvene slovenske književnosti, ki bo registrirala tako odzivanje literature na družbeno dogajanje kakor nasprotni proces odzivanja širše družbe na literarne procese.

Opravljen bo poskus strukturne analize razmerja med slovensko literaturo in družbo v obdobju po letu 1991; rezultati analize bodo soočeni z rezultati, do katerih bo pripeljal že navedeni 2. cilj raziskave. Tako se bo mogoče celoviteje opredeliti do dinamike razvoja slovenske literature in do obstoja morebitnih konstant oziroma strukturnih zakonitosti, ki zadevajo razmerje med slovensko literaturo in družbo.

Če bodo vsi prejšnji cilji uspešno izpeljani, bodo rezultati raziskave ne le dopolnili obstoječe literarnozgodovinske preglede, temveč – v skladu z novimi literarnozgodovinskimi paradigmami in interpretativnimi modeli – omogočili tudi zasnutje specifične, splošni zgodovini slovenske literature vzporedne literarne zgodovine slovenske osamosvojitve in demokratizacije, ki se ne bo osredinjala zgolj na estetski in literarno-razvoji vidik, temveč bo literarna dela vrednotila tudi z gledišča njihovega pomena za družbeno dogajanje.

 

The position of Slovene literature in the years 1945-1991, viewed structurally, was at least somewhat similar to that of the 19^th century, only that the national-emancipatory and national-defence effect was replaced by a special way of reading, practised by the critical public. In the so-called great texts of post-war Slovene literature, for instance in the poetry of Dane Zajc, the plays of Dominik Smole and the novels of Lojze Kovačič and Vitomil Zupan, this critical public sought and found global metaphors for critiquing the communist one-party system. Literature thus started to take over a political emancipatory role as well. This was all the more true of those literary texts that touched on taboo topics from the Slovene recent past. In the undemocratic post-war decades in Slovenia literary (and philosophical-reflexive) texts were quite often a kind of symbolic manifestation or even an economy of freedom and a sort of compensation for the lack of political democracy. The first two aims of the research follow from this:

1^st aim: The research will attempt to confirm the hypothesis about the political-emancipatory role of Slovene literature in the period 1945-1991 with the identification and interpretation of the most relevant texts of post-war Slovene literature, with their comparative contextualization, and also with an analysis of their reception and “social influence”. An examination of the significant literary currents and the genre specifics of this period, the key authors and works also belong within this framework.

2^nd aim: A comparative structural analysis of the relation between Slovene literature and social reality in the 19^th century and in the period 1945-1991 will be carried out. This analysis can partly illuminate whether there are structural constants of Slovene literature in this relation or whether the nature of this relation is subject to changes.

In terms of content, the most important part of the research will be devoted to Slovene literary production and the entire Slovene literary field after independence. From the standpoint of literary history this is a period of heterogeneity, syncretism and plurality, marked by the absence of a single, predominant literary orientation, a period which, not least, forced literary historiography to search for new models. One of the presuppositions of the research is that all the important social changes, and also social happenings that were generally important in this period (entry into the EU, NATO, the problem specific to Slovenia of the so-called erased citizens or the similarly typical reactualization of national divisiveness during the Second World War, the Roma problem, anti-globalism and anti-corporativism, the refugee crisis, nostalgia for Yugoslavia, etc.), were expressed in one way or another in literary production as well. The additional four aims of the research follow from this section:

3^rd aim: An interpretation and literary-sociological analysis will be made of the most notable or most representative (for the purposes of this research) prose, poetic and dramatic works of this period. 

4^th aim: On the basis of these analyses and interpretations a special typology will be derived of post-independence Slovene literature, which will register both the response of literature to social happenings and the opposite response of society in general to literary processes.

5^th aim: An attempt will be made at a structural analysis of the relation between Slovene literature and society in the period after 1991; the results of this analysis will be placed against the results reached from the 2^nd aim of the research. Thus it will be possible to adopt a more fully rounded view regarding the dynamics of the development of Slovene literature and the existence of possible constants or structural regularities, which affect the relation between Slovene literature and society. 

6^th aim: If all the preceding aims are successfully carried out, the results of the research will not only complement existing literary history surveys but also – in keeping with new paradigms in literary history and interpretative models – will make possible the drafting of a specific literary history of Slovene independence and democratization parallel to the general history of Slovene literature. This history will not be focused merely on the aesthetic and literary-development aspects, but will evaluate literary works also from the standpoint of their significance for social happenings.