BAROQUE LITERATURE IN SLAMNIG'S CONCEPT OF "NATIONAL LITERARY TRADITION"

Slamnig's concept of national literary tradition, which was originally developed together with Antun Soljan, is here used as a starting point in the analysis of his approach to Croatian literary history. Practical application of Slamnig and Soljan's theses on national literary tradition is exemplified by Croatian baroque literature, which drew the attention of both Slamnig the literary historian, as well as Slamnig the writer. In the first part of the paper, his concept of baroque as a distinct stage of Croatian literary history is viewed through his attempts at its revalorisation both on the national, as well as the international (i. e. comparative) level. In the second part, Slamnig's usage of Croatian baroque in his own literary texts is analysed by using Gerard Genette's typology of transtextual relationships. The latter case reveals a freer and sometimes more critical attitude towards national literary tradition, which can be seen as resulting from Slamnig's attempts to question and rethink tradition from the contemporary standpoint and in accordance with his own poetic preoccupations.