With the help of Bakhtin's theory of the carnival, the works of selected authors who worked at the time of the beginnings of Slovenian prose were analysed. Bakhtin's thought is presented by explaining the concepts of folk culture of laughter, carnival and carnivalization. The writers analysed are Janez Trdina, Fran Levstik and Josip Jurčič, as they were to a considerable extent linked to the folk tradition, which, alongside the tradition of carnivalized literature, is the main source of the influence of folk culture of laughter on Slovenian prose, and were at the same time the central authors of the beginnings of prose fiction. In Trdina's work, carnivalization is visible in the part of his oeuvre that was closest to folk tradition, either in more or less reworked folk tales or in almost folkloristic descriptions of folk customs. In Levstik's writing, the most prominent carnivalized works are Martin Krpan z Vrha and Pižmar pripoveduje, kdo so bili njegovi in njegovega ščitnika Pilpoha stari dedje. Especially in the latter, in addition to the motif-thematic elements of folk culture of laughter, there is also a distinctly carnival atmosphere. We cannot, however, associate the literary programme in Popotovanje od Litije do Čateža with folk culture of laughter. Jurčič's Kozlovska sodba v Višnji gori should also be singled out as carnivalesque. Although it is written as a satire on the social reality of Jurčič's time, the carnivalized template of the folk tale is still at the forefront. Otherwise, the folk laughter culture in Jurčič is mostly present on the linguistic level. Carnivalization is present in early Slovenian prose mainly at the level of motifs and scenes; there are few works that are explicitly carnivalesque.
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