SOURCE: Bonazza, Sergio. “Jernej Kopitar: His Place in Slovene Cultural History.” Papers in Slavic Philology 2 (1982): 178-83.

In the following essay, Bonazza responds to Slovene critics who label Kopitar “anti-progressive.”

Jernej Kopitar's place in Slovene cultural history is anachronistic and paradoxical. He was indeed one of the great Slovenes and one of the few whose works were known and celebrated internationally. He was, however, classed as one of those worthless, awkward, and even damaging personalities by official Slovene critics. The critics have always tried, and are still trying, to stick labels like “anti-progressive,” “anti-liberal,” “reactionary,” “clerical,” “mouthpiece of Metternich,” “enemy of the organic development of Slovene literature,” and so on, on Kopitar's name. Only Jože Pogačnik has made an exception, feeling it his duty to tackle the whole matter about Kopitar courageously and without prejudice. His monograph¹ is therefore an important change, a milestone on the new...