The Slovenian Reception of Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Abstract

The responses to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin in Slovenia have evolved significantly over the years. The first two adaptations, both published in 1853, were initially praised for highlighting the inhumanity of slavery. Even after the slave system was abolished in the United States of America, the novel was sporadically recommended as appropriate reading for young people, although the text’s rather limited aesthetic value was pointed out in some articles. The third Slovenian adaptation (1918) was overlooked in the press, whereas Olga Grahor’s 1934 adaptation received largely favourable responses. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was frequently discussed in Slovenian periodicals from the beginning of the socialist era; it was generally praised for its role in the abolition of slavery and for encouraging discussions about social issues even in present times, although in several articles its literary deficiencies were also mentioned. Interest in the novel persisted in the 1960s, but during the last two decades of the Slovenian socialist period, it was no longer discussed in depth and was only mentioned sporadically. In independent Slovenia, the responses to Uncle Tom’s Cabin have so far been limited to brief mentions – most authors of the articles recognized the novel’s historical significance, but only a few acknowledged some of its more problematic aspects. The analysis showed that throughout history, the Slovenian reception of Uncle Tom’s Cabin has been significantly less intense and controversial than the responses to it in the source culture – the only exception being the late 1940s and the 1950s, when the novel was marginalized in the U.S. literary canon but enjoyed high status in the Slovenian literary system.