“Forgotten Friend(s)”: Polish Literary Diplomacy in Slovenia

Abstract

The aim of this article is to study the translation of Polish literature into Slovene to shed light on Polish literary (and cultural) diplomacy in Slovenia. Being acquainted with the culture of another nation is an important factor in forming closer political and economic relations, since literature is a source of “soft power,” which relies on attraction rather than on the power of explicit or implicit coercion. Using quantitative analysis, we surveyed how many and which works were translated from Polish into Slovene between 1865 and 2021. Our qualitative analysis based on semi-structured interviews with Slovene translators further explores who chose the texts and decided what to translate from Polish into Slovene. The key finding of the article is that strong cultural cooperation (in our case, translation of Polish literature into Slovene) can be an advantageous platform for enhancing and strengthening political and economic relations between the two countries, as well as for fostering better understanding between the two nations.