The Maribor Reader

Opis

The book  is a portrait of the city of Maribor, how it has been drawn throughout its history in literature and memoirs.

he first striking line in this drawing appeared in the 15th century when, on the orders of Emperor Maximilian I, the city expelled its numerous and economically powerful Jewish community.
A fresher, lighter line entered the picture in 1859 with the transfer of the diocese from St Andrä in Austrian Corinthia to Maribor, a move carried out by Bishop Anton Martin Slomšek.
And in this lighter, more heroic side of the picture, we also include the time after World War I, when General Rudolf Maister, fought to include Maribor, up until then considered an Austrian city, in the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (December 1, 1918).
The city received a bloody red stain on its portrait during World War II. Maribor underwent German occupation and genocide, and the 29 Allied bombing attacks destroyed 47 % of the city’s buildings. At the same time, there was armed resistance within Maribor led by the communist partisans.
During the post-war period from 1945 to 2001, the red hues in the portrait grew more vivid, this time because Maribor became one of the most vital industrial and proletarian centers in socialist Yugoslavia. But the red began to fade during the 1980s with the fall of socialism, Yugoslavia, and industrialism. In 1991, Slovenia became an independent democratic country for the first time in its history.
Since Slovenia’s entry into the European Union in 2004, Maribor is discovering – in blue colors – a new identity. This identity is based on higher education and culture. Maribor’s selection as the 2012 European Capital of Culture, and the year of events that accompany this honor, has given the city a strong push in that direction. Maribor is a city moving with the winds of history, creating a rainbow-colored self-portrait – that you will see throughout this book – is also a literary portrait.
The book contains the texts of 32 authors and is enriched by 20 reproductions of works of art by Maribor artists, among them the world-renowned painter Zoran Mušič, who began his artistic journey in our city.
We wish you pleasant reading!

Prve izrazitejše poteze na portretu nastanejo v 15. stoletju, ko po ukazu cesarja Maksimilijana I. izženejo iz mesta številno in gospodarsko močno judovsko skupnost. Nova, svetla poteza je prenos škofijskega sedeža iz Št. Andraža na avstrijskem Koroškem v Maribor leta 1859, ki ga je izpeljal škof Anton Martin Slomšek. In že je tu čas po prvi svetovni vojni. 1. decembra 1918 general Rudolf Maister s heroičnim zamahom priključi Maribor, do takrat avstrijsko mesto, novi državi, Kraljevini Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev. Krvavo rdeč madež na mestnem portretu predstavlja druga svetovna vojna. Takrat meso doživi nemško okupacijo in genocid, v 29 zavezniških bombnih napadih je porušenih 47 % vseh stavb, obenem pa v mestu vzplamti oborožen upor pod vodstvom komunistične partije. Povojno obdobje 1945–2001 nanaša na mestni portret živo rdečo barvo enega najizrazitejših industrijsko proletarskih središč socialistične Jugoslavije. A ta barva začne v osemdesetih letih prejšnjega stoletja vse bolj bledeti, dokler s propadom socializma, industrije in Jugoslavije popolnoma ne zbledi. Leta 1991 smo Slovenci prvič v svoji zgodovini formirali lastno demokratično državo. Od njenega vstopa v Evropsko unijo leta 2004  Maribor išče – v modri barvi –  svojo novo identiteto. Danes je vse bolj jasno, da bo ta v prihodnje temeljila predvsem na visokem šolstvu in kulturi. Močan sunek v to smer pomeni raznobarvno mednarodno dogajanje v okviru Maribor 2012 – Evropska prestolnica kulture. Maribor je mesto na prepihu zgodovine in tak, mavrično živobarven je – kot kaže pričujoča knjiga – tudi njegov literarni portret.

Knjiga zajema besedila 32 avtorjev, ki jih bogati 20 reprodukcij likovnih del mariborskih umetnikov, med njimi tudi slike svetovno znanega slikarja Zorana Mušiča, ki je svojo umetniško pot začel prav v našem mestu.

Zanimivo branje in čudovito darilo tujcem, da okusijo literarno-likovni utrip mesta skozi čas.