Strach, bezmocnosť a úžas. O jadrovej energii v slovenských veršoch
Fear, helplessness and awe. On nuclear energy in Slovak verse

Summary/Abstract: The study examines representations of nuclear energy, and thermonuclear weapons in particular, as well as the concepts of nuclearity and nuclear implication in Slovak poetry. The aim is to demonstrate how the nuclear bomb and life in the atomic age were depicted in Slovak poetry. The research draws on philosophical perspectives on nuclearity and the atomic age, as well as on works concerning the portrayal of these phenomena in art and literature. This makes it possible to trace different forms of reflection on the transformed post-war world: exhortative poems based on conveying the destructive potential of the atom, but above all works that need not explicitly name their connection to nuclearity and yet reveal its dimensions most fully. This also reveals a diverse spectrum of predominantly negative emotions associated with nuclear energy. Although the theme of nuclear power commonly appeared in the Slovak context as a subject of socialist-oriented works, it is nevertheless possible to analyse deeper interconnections and contexts in which concepts such as humanism, memory, time, dehumanisation, and guilt appear to be key. Underlying this complex is a fundamental, variously articulated anxiety about the end of civilisation.

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