ABSTRACTS der Vorlesungsreihe Südosteuropastudien IV: Musik, Theater, Kultur

Ana Mitić, Don Juan Archiv Wien
Female identities in translation: August von Kotzebue’s (1761–1819) "Die Spanier in Peru oder Rollas Tod" in the Balkan context

August von Kotzebue (1761–1819) is one of the most prolific playwrights of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. What certainly contributed to his popularity, were some of his highly disputed female characters that, according to many critics of the time, were promoting morally dubious model of “seduced innocence”. Beyond this perspective, it is interesting to investigate Kotzebue’s female characters in the context of theatre conventions of the time, as well as their transformations when setting, religion, identity were changed in translation. Elvira, mistress of the Spanish conquistador Pizarro in Kotzebue’s play Die Spanier in Peru oder Rollas Tod (1796), an ambitious and transgressive character, suffered severe dramaturgical interventions in the subsequent adaptations of the play: In Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s (1751–1816) Pizarro (1799), the most prominent adaption of the play, she was morally “improved”, even sentimentalized. A significant transformation of Elvira is to be found in the Serbian translation of the play by Konstantin Popović Komoraš (1795–1871) titled Turci u Bosni ili smert Miloša (‘The Turks in Bosnia or Miloš’s death’, 1834). By relocating the setting to Bosnia at the time of the Ottoman conquest, Popović generates a completely different set of historical, (inter)confessional and political references, constructing a patriotic plot. Accordingly, Elvira becomes Muslim named Fatma. It is this transformation that constitutes the focus of my talk: To what extent is the translator forced to re-arrange the set of references and which strategies are employed to re-shape the character of Elvira/Fatma in order to make her more consilient to the patriarchal tradition of the Balkan society?

Nela Kovačević, Belgrad
Female characters in the works of the Sephardic dramatist Laura Papo Bohoreta

Under Ottoman rule, Bosnian Sephardic Jews lived quite isolated from the rest of the Bosnian population. During almost three centuries of isolation they managed to preserve the cultural heritage brought from their homeland Spain, from which they were expelled in 1492: oral tradition, customs and the language, known as Judeo- Spanish (medieval Spanish that accepted influences of the local languages depending on the territory where they settled down after the expulsion). This community was isolated until the Austro-Hungarian occupation, after which it started changing radically, due to the inevitable process of modernization. The Sephardic population finally started adapting to the outside world in all aspects in life: education, culture, way of living, etc.
All these changes are reflected in the literary work of Laura Papo (1891–1942), the only female Bosnian Sephardic writer who wrote in her mother tongue, Judeo-Spanish. The most important part of her work are theatre plays that contain old proverbs, sayings as well as numerous romansa Lieder and traditional Spanish ballads sung, mostly by women. In her dramas Papo describes a patriarchal environment in the historical, economical and cultural context. Within this frame, the playwright offers an image of the Sephardic woman, her role in family life, focusing especially on her transformation from a patriarchal to an emancipated woman.

Andrea Grill (Universität Wien)
Kinder der Diktatur: Poesie von Frauen in Albanien nach 1990

Albanien war mehr als 46 Jahre lang (1944–1990) eine sozialistische Einparteiendiktatur. Alle kulturellen Äußeren, auch Poesie, unterlagen einer strengen Zensur. Ein "falsches" Wort in einem Vers konnte Gefängnis oder Schlimmeres bedeuten. Anhand ausgewählter Gedichte der albanischen Lyrikerinnen Mimoza Ahmeti (geb. 1963), Albana Shala (geb. 1968) und  Luljeta Lleshanaku (geb. 1968), werde ich beispielhaft Besonderheiten der zeitgenössischen Poesie in Albanien aufzeigen. Die in deutscher Übersetzung gelesenen Texte stelle ich vor den Hintergrund der jeweiligen Lebensgeschichten der Verfasserinnen. Die bisherigen Rezeptionsgeschichten der Werke außerhalb Albaniens werden mittels biografischer Anekdoten erzählt.

Leon Stefanija, Universität Ljubljana
Female composers in Slovenia after 1991: What is feminine in their work?

At the music festival simply entitled Woman, that took place in Maribor in summer 2015, the president of the Slovenian government delivered a speech praising the complementarity between the female and male “elements” in the arts: ”Without the female principle art simply does not exist and cannot exist because the female figure and character are inspiration and a good portion of the path on which the artist creates and reproduces his work of art. Mysticism of a woman, her inconceivable depth, intuition and gentle persistence and incredible power that has the capacity to grow from a small spring into a mighty river, waterfall and sea  art – all these qualities are indispensable parts of any well-thought out artistic process.”
There are numerous representatives of “female music”, such as for instance the oeuvres from Pauline Oliveros, Sofia Gubaidulina, Melinda Wagner or Iris ter Shiphorst. Yet, how to define the embodiment of “the feminine”? According to the research of this topic in Slovenia so far, there are no clearly defined feminine music. The number of female composers grew rather fast as the end of the 20th century approached. And although the official historiography of Slovenian music only in the last few years reveals some consciousness about the growing generations of female composers, the most recent history of Slovenian music (2013) includes only one female composer. I will offer a survey of the Slovenian music by female composers after 1991 focusing on what may – or may not – be seen as feminine in their work, on the basis of case studies of the most prolific authors: Brina Zupančič (1953), Jerca Oblak Parker (1966), Larisa Vrhunc (1967), Urška Pompe (1969), Bojana Šaljič Podešva (1978), Tadeja Vulc (1978), Nana Forte (1981), Nina Šenk (1982), Tina Mauko (1982) and Petra Strahovnik (1986).

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