The Baptism on the Savica – The Slovene National Epic With a Question Mark

This article analyzes France Prešeren’s 1836 poem Krst pri Savici (The Baptism on the Savica) and its status as the Slovene national epic. Although brief and stylistically hybrid, combining classical epic and modern novelistic patterns, Krst pri Savici came to occupy the sole “epic slot” in Slovene literature. The article situates the poem within the context of European national epics and nation-building in the 19th century. Drawing on genre theory and the concept of cultural sainthood, it is argued that Prešeren strategically adopted epic conventions to endow the nascent Slovene literature with historical gravitas, while also deconstructing the national epic genre through novelistic subjectivity. Moreover, Prešeren’s canonization contributed to the poem’s cultural centrality. Intertextual analysis traces how Krst pri Savici sparked an enduring imaginary in Slovene literature and society, as its semantic openness and structural ambivalences fueled conflicting interpretations, valuations and rewritings.