Alexander Matuška – neľútostný kritik slovenského tradicionalizmu

Author(s): Vlasta Jaksicsová / Language(s): Slovak / Publication Year: 0

Po viac ako dvadsaťročnej spolupráci s historikom Ivanom Kamencom, ktorá akosi prirodzene prerástla aj do ľudskej roviny, som počas mnohých, pre mňa veľmi obohacujúcich diskusiách s ním nadobudla vnútorné presvedčenie, že v jeho ľudskom i profesionálnom živote zastávajú (vlastne už de facto zastávali) pevné miesto dva ľudské a profesionálne vzory. Bol to historik Ľubomír Lipták, ktorý bol zároveň i jeho „učiteľom“, zaúčajúcim svojho mladého ašpiranta histórie krok za krokom do tajomstiev „historického remesla“, a najvýznamnejší predstaviteľ slovenskej literárnej kritiky a esejistiky 20. storočia Alexander Matuška. Vzhľadom na význam oboch osobností v slovenskej historiografii i literárnej histórii, tento výber nie je na prvý pohľad až taký prekvapujúci. Bolo akosi prirodzené, že mladý absolvent histórie a dejín umenia sa aj svojou ľudskou a mentálnou výbavou bude uberať tou ťažšou cestou, a to večným, azda aj nekonečným hľadaním morálneho imperatívu v dejinách, predovšetkým však konaním a postojmi ľudí, ktorí tieto dejiny tvorili a ovplyvňovali. Matuška bol Kamencovi blízky najmä svojím povestným, neľútostným kriticizmom a glosovaním spoločenských javov (do vlastných radov), rád ho cituje – a nie je sám – lebo tohto briskného ekvilibristu slovenského slova citujú mnohí, jeho totiž nemožno „len“ prerozprávať. Sám Matuška nemal túto charakteristiku rád, ale sa za ňu ani nehanbil. Tým, čo ho označovali iba za verbalistu, ktorý neprináša nič nové, odkazoval: „hovorili o mojom hračkárení, naznačovali čosi o verbálnom efektníčení, ba aj o verbalizme. Tým chceli povedať, že síce pekne píšem, ale neprinášam nič nové, lebo ako by to bolo – však? – aj pekne aj nové? Pretože oni nevedeli písať, mysleli si, že sú hlbokí ... uznávam, že ... bez trošku hry to tomu, kto s ním [so slovom] pracuje po celý život naozaj nejde...“.

Attempt to Outline the Situation in the Publication of Literature in Slovakia (1980 - 1989)

Author(s): Marián Grupac / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

Básnik a mesto : Viedenské roky Jána Kollára

Author(s): Tatiana Ivantyšynová,Peter Podolan,Miriam Viršinská / Language(s): Slovak / Publication Year: 2015

The revolutionary years 1848 – 1849 had a significant impact on the lives of all people in the multi- ethnical Habsburg monarchy. The revolution brought the Austrian empire and its sovereign new issues which had to be solved inevitably. In the new circumstances the main task for the imperial court was the adjustment of the public administration in the country which was to be handed over to new and reliable people. At the beginning of 1849 the government created a new advisory institution. The governmental advisors became the main proponents of the Slovak issues at the governing circles in Vienna. Ján Kollár was named the adviser at the beginning of April 1849 and thus, after thirty years in Pest, he came to Vienna where he later also died. In his new role Kollár focused on solving the Slovak issue – national rights of Slovaks which, in his opinion, were to be extended in Hungary in a several phases. Firstly he pursued to completely and definitely eliminate magyarization and finally bring it to its end. Following this aim he made some elaborates for the government. One of them, about national administration is still undiscovered. In others he was dealing with changes in the school system and in the Lutheran church in the Habsburg monarchy. Both documents are summarizations of Kollár’s ideas about how school system and Lutheran church should function in the monarchy with the emphasis on language and national equality. While working as the governmental adviser he also engaged in other spheres. He used his good relationships with the Austrian governing authorities for the benefit of Slovaks. He recommended people whom he trusted for important posts. He managed to put through the so called Old Slovak language (Czech language with some Slovak elements) as a literary language, was zealous to establish a great Slovak principality and he made efforts to solve all contemporary problems of Slovaks in Hungary. Shortly after arriving in Vienna he found himself at the Vienna University as a professor of “Slavic archeology“, which made it possible for him to devote his time to his greatest passion, i. e. studying Slavic past and mythology towards the end of his life. Thanks to Kollár’s stay at the university, his last works were dedicated to the oldest history of Slavs in the European area. He became the pioneer of archeological research in which he tried to use the available scientific works and also to create new scientific terminology. Staroitalia slavjanska… with almost 900 pages was Kollar’s largest volume published. It was a mixture of the method of his previous scientific works aimed mainly at etymological explanation of national names (Rozprawy…, Sláwa Bohyně…) with a new archeological range. The last elaborated sphere of Kollár’s scientific interest at the end of the 1840s and the beginning of the 1850s were the so called Prillwitz idols allegedly representing the deity from Retra, about which, towards the end of his life, Kollár wrote a vast book with the same title which was never published.

Can the dissident speak? The Czech woman writer in the work of Philip Roth and Dominik Tatarka

Author(s): Charles Sabatos / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2017

The Czech dissident movement that began in the late 1970s was a network in which women played a key role, but the Czech writers who gained fame in the West were invariably men. In Philip Roth’s 1985 novella The Prague Orgy, his alter ego Nathan Zuckerman meets a woman writer named Olga, whose pursuit of the American writer owes more to erotic fantasy than to the milieu Roth recreates in otherwise faithful detail. This portrayal of the Czech female as both sexualized and “other” can be traced back to twentieth century Prague-German writers,but Roth both politicizes and intellectualizes this archetype by making the desiring (rather than desired) woman a writer and dissident. A real-life perspective on the Czech disidentka (female dissident) appears in the work of Dominik Tatarka, one of the few Slovak writers tobe closely associated with the dissident movement. The last work Tatarka published in hislifetime was a memoir based on tape-recorded interviews with Eva Štolbová, who became Tatarka’s connection to Prague dissident circles. In 1988, these Navrávačky (Tapings) were published in edited book form in Germany, and it was not until more than a decade later that the full transcripts were published in Slovakia. While the female Czech dissident is eroticized in this text as well, Štolbová is not a mere object of desire; she portrays her side of the story inher own memoir, Lamento (1994). The gender dynamic between Štolbová and Tatarka subverts the cultural assumption in which the Czech language was constructed as “masculine”and Slovak as “feminine.” Thus both Roth and Tatarka illustrate the interplay between “otherness”and gender in the production of dissident culture, and its reception by domestic (both Czech and Slovak) as well as international readers.

Causa „Černoboh bamberský“

Author(s): Peter Podolan / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 18/2015

Ján Kollár (1793 – 1852) was well known Slovak representative, celebrated poet and ideologist. However his scientific career is still not well illuminated. This paper focuses on Kollár's interest in history and his discovery of the supposed Slavic pagan idol. During the honeymoon in autumn 1835 Kollár visited town Bamberg in Germany. Near entrances of the Bamberg cathedral he found two ancient sculptures of lions and copied supposed runic inscription. He believed that they represent Slavic deity "Černoboh" [Dark/Evil God] and that the inscription is evidence of the runic letters of the ancient Slavs. About his discovery he wrote to friends. Pavel Jozef Šafárik (1795 – 1861) informed the scientific spheres and also German scientists began to occupy themselves with problems of the sculptures and inscrip-tion. Although the final achievements proved that the inscription was not real Slavic relic and sculptures were created in the Middle Ages, Kollár believed in their authenticity for the rest of his life. The discovery also influenced his later scholar activities, when he became a professor of Slavic archaeology and occupied himself with problems so-called "Prillwitz idols".

CVIKOVÁ, Jana: KU KONCEPTUALIZÁCII RODU V MYSLENÍ O LITERATÚRE. Bratislava : Ústav svetovej literatúry Slovenskej akadémie vied a ASPEKT, 2014.

Author(s): IVANA HOSTOVÁ / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 1/2017

Daniel Krman a jeho cesty

Author(s): Igor Zmeták / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 2/2016

Daniel Krman is known in Slovakia as one of the main representatives of the Slovak Baroque literature. Nevertheless, it is less known that his Itineraria — Travel Diary is not only a precious literary work, but also a valuable historical source about the Great Northern War held in the first third of the 18th century. The Travel Diary dates back to the years 1708—1709, when the Hungarian protestant delegacy was on its way to the Swedish king Charles XII. Krman traveled through Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Moldovia, and his notes are one of the few remaining authentic documents of the witnesses from the batdefields of the Great Northern War. At the same time, they rank as a unique ethnographic source from that period. Another importance of the work, until now neglected, is a Hungarian (Slovak) travelers’ view of the Swedish army in Central Europe, as well as his view of King Charles XII himself.

Daniel Krman ako symbol prieniku lokálnej, konfesionálnej a národnej identity (na príklade Myjavy)

Author(s): Peter Macho / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 1/2017

The paper analyzes the importance and place of evangelical bishop Daniel Krman as a symbol in the local (the inhabitants of town Myjava), confessional (Protestants) and national (Slovaks) identity and memory. It examines folk manifestations, literary production and the societies, institutions and public spaces in Myjava that have adopted Krman´s name. The golden age of the institutionalized commemoration of D. Krman may be the first half of the 20th century. To date Krman predominantly functions as a significant confessional symbol, therefore Krmanesque festive culture is also closely related to the clerical and religious life. This symbol was usually pushed out of the context of various secular (public, national) festivals. The literary texts and ceremonial speeches written in the year 1940 (the 200th anniversary of Krman´s death) were marked by the resistance of the Lutheran community to the totalitarian regime of the Slovak State: despite the single attempt at the ecumenical understanding of the symbol, the literary image of Krman as a martyr of the evangelical faith became a tool of petrified confessional differences on the local as well as nationwide level.

Die Gestalt Jánošíks, des Gebirgsburschen, in der slowakischen Folklore und Literatur (1740–1820)

Author(s): Anna Gyivicsán / Language(s): German / Issue: 1(2)/2007

Predominantly, this study examines two issues. First, why in a very short span of time the real historical person of Jánošík turned into a folklore and literary character and what kind of interaction can be revealed between these two fields. Second, why compared to the whole of the Slovakian folklore the Jánošík tradition is so scarce in Slovakian communities of Hungary. The author also attempts to answer to the question how the Jánošík legends attested in these communities appeared among the Slovakians who settled down in Hungary in the late 17th and early 18th century.

Dramat słowacki w Polsce. Przekład w dialogu kultur bliskich

Author(s): Lucyna Spyrka / Language(s): Polish / Publication Year: 2016

The book is devoted to the Polish translations of Slovak dramatic works in the context of the dialogue between both cultures. In the first part of the work an attempt is made at formulating a definition and arranging concepts, beginning from the concept of the dialogue between cultures, translation, the competence of the recipients and the translator proceeding through a discussion of the determinants of cultural proximity and the factors which specify the contribution of translation in the intercultural dialogue, including its functions and value. There is an outline of the contacts between Polish and Slovak cultures, with reference to the contribution of translations of Slovak literature into Polish. The second part of the book contain a discussion of the particular translations of Slovak dramatic works and their reception, which is preceded by an outline of the development of Slovak drama as well as the discussion of the theoretical concepts of translating dramatic works and their possible participation in the dialogue between cultures. An attempt was made at determining the contribution of these works in the Polish-Slovak dialogue of cultures in reference to each work that was discussed and to indicate the reasons of the particular state of affairs in the case of a given translation. Reference has also been made to the information about the authors of the particular translations. We may distinguish three periods in the history of the presence of Slovak playwriting output in Polish culture: the pre-war years, the post-war years and the period after the Velvet Revolution. Each of these periods has a peculiar nature of its own, determined above all by the historical context in which the cultural contacts between both peoples developed. In the inter-war period Slovak dramatic works were not staged in Polish theatres, and only one work was published in print — a one-act play by Jozef Gregor Tajovský entitled “Matka” [“Mother”]. Another phase of the Polish-Slovak dialogue of cultures begins in the years that followed the Second World War. Both the Polish literature as well as the Slovak literature was subordinated to the standards determined by the third, Soviet culture. The intercultural contacts were ideologised and politicised. Therefore the notion of a dialogue of cultures hardly applies here. In this context we may mention the translations of the following dramatic works: “Experiment Damokles” [“The Damocles Experiment”] by Peter Karvaš and “Kráľovná noci v kamennom mori” [“The Queen of the Night in the Stone Desert”] by Ján Solovič. After 1989 the conditions of cultural contacts changed. There appeared an opportunity to forge intercultural relations based on an authentic interests of both parties involved. In this time, the number of translations that were published in print increased in comparison with the previous period, whereas the number and the frequency of performances considerably decreased. This stage of the Polish-Slovak dialogue of cultures saw the publication of translations of the following works: Próba [The Test] by Lubomír Feldek, “Nowa skóra” [“New Skin”] by Viliam Klimáček, “Armagedon na Grbie” by Rudolf Sloboda, “Uczuciowa mieszanka” [“A Mixture of Feelings”] by Zuzana Uličianska and “Stryczek dla dwóch” [“A Noose for Two”] by Ivan Bukovčan. The text of the translation may assume various positions in the new cultural context: it may be domesticated, being subject to acculturation or on the contrary — it may become a rejected or even alienated translation. The last chapter of the book is devoted to problems of this kind. Among the Polish translations of Slovak dramatic works there were none that would be domesticated in our culture. Slovak drama participates in the Polish-Slovak intercultural communication but it struggles to participate in the dialogue between both cultures. Apart from the content of the bulk of the dissertation there is a critical discussion of the anthology of modern Slovak drama that is the only publication of its kind that was heretofore published in Poland — “Nowy dramat słowacki/Most recent Slovak drama”.

Dva rukopisy z konca 17. storočia z Marmaroša

Author(s): Svetlana Vašícková / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 2/2016

The paper was created as a part of solving APVV project devoted to Cyrillic literature in Slovakia written until the end of 18th century. Uglian Gospel and Uglian Miscellanea are Cyrillic literary monuments of the Carpathian provenience from the end of 17th century. In this paper we describe Uglian manuscripts in angle of palaeography and content.

Edícia

Author(s): Paulín Bajan / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 3/2016

Emigrantologia Słowian

Frequency: 1 issues / Country: Poland

“Emigrantologia Słowian” is an interdisciplinary  scientific journal of the Committee of Slavonic Emigration Studies affiliated by the International Committee of Slavists. The main aim of “Emigrantologia Słowian” is to publish research papers, reviews and reports on various aspects of life of the Slavonic communities in emigration: culture, literature, language situation (with special reference to bilingualism).

European Journal of Media, Art and Photography

Frequency: 2 issues / Country: Slovakia

European Journal of Media, Art and Photography is scientific research journal in the field of mass media communication, which reflects contemporary forms of mass media background in the context of visual media.

EJMAP reflects the theoretical and visual aspects of interconnection and interdependency of mass media platform. It mediates the studies of theoretical character, theoretical and empirical character, research results and their implementation in practice, with a focus on the visuality, and profiling the journal such as intermediary of the mass media and intermedia issues.

Forgotten Prosaic Works (Forming a Literary Image of the Holocaust in Slovak Literature of the 1940s and 1950s)

Author(s): Dana Hucková / Language(s): English / Issue: 12/2017

Hučková Dana, Forgotten Prosaic Works (Forming a Literary Image of the Holocaust in Slovak Literature of the 1940s and 1950s). “Poznańskie Studia Slawistyczne” 12. Poznań 2017. Publishing House of the Poznań Society for the Advancement of the Arts and Sciences, pp. 153–166. ISSN 2084-3011. The iconography of the Holocaust in Slovak literature between the late 1940s and mid-1950s was also created by texts that are almost forgotten today. The article discusses prosaic works by two Slovak writers. Some of these works belong to the early period of the Holocaust reception and some of them originated later. Literary history paid little or no attention especially to older works. One of the writers discussed in the article, Hela Volanská, disappeared from the literary life after 1970. The article discusses her works O živých a mŕtvych (On Those Who Are Alive and Dead, 1948) and Ako na cudzej svadbe (As at Somebody Else’s Wedding, 1987/2009). The other writer discussed in this article, Ľudo Zúbek, is an established name of Slovak literature, but is known mostly as an author of historical and biographical fiction, including a novel Jar Adely Ostrolúckej (Adela Ostrolúcka’s Spring, 1957), which is today incorrectly considered literature for young female readers. Other Zúbek’s works reached very little attention and acknowledgement. The article discusses his prosaic works Rozbitá dúha (Broken Rainbow, 1956) and Vltava (without date).

Full Issue

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 3/2016

Hronského tvorba perom maďarskej literárnej kritiky

Author(s): MARTA ZAHRADNÍKOVÁ / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 1-2/2005

The paper studies the last novel of J. C. Hronský Svet na Trasovisku in the context of the Slovak literature and also in the context of the previous authors’ works to find out how the text of the novel differentiated from reality. Research of the text and other resources show that Hronský’s picture of the war events and the Slovak National Uprising was based on his personal life experience, his humiliation and his proffesional degradation. That is why his picture differentiates from those ones made by the authors who participated in preparation of the SNU and who were active participants of it. Hronský was a loyal citizen of the Slovak State but he was never active in politics. All his efforts as an author and in the Matica Slovenská aimed to flourishing the Slovak literature and culture and thus to enable them to participate in inter-literal European communication. The novel Svet na Trasovisku and previous Hronský’s works are based on symbolic principles. He surrounded events of the period, relationships and characters by symbols and thus he created the story of many meanings. The main idea of the novel is national idea connected with a christian one in the last picture of the novel which is a way from darkness of the war period to the light of hope and trust in Slovak nation also after the war period. He expressed the war period indirectly through reactions and actions of the characters. Their dual polarization was the result of their relationship to the state and of their confessional difference and nationality. The author wanted to emphasize moral values of the characters and his own struggle for national and ecumenical unification of the Slovaks.

Idea nowego początku w słowackich wizjach dziejów z połowy XIX wieku

Author(s): Anna Kobylinska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 14/2014

The point of this paper is to show that the idea of new beginning was clearly present in mid-19th century Slovak literature. This idea became the means of conveying revisions of Slovak history. It was also a sign of a deep cultural change, resulting from factors including secularisation and the influence of nationalist ideology. The direction of change can be observed in selected works by Janko Kráľ, Viliam Pauliny-Tóth, and Jonáš Záborský. These writers challenge the optimistic view of the world by seeing in it a fundamental mistake that needs to be corrected. They propose correcting the myth of origin (Christian, national), but on the basis of a hermetic paradigm (magic and/or gnosis). Thus they create a false dimension of transcendence that becomes the foundation of the “new era”.

Idyla a limity realizmu

Žáner ako mentálne médium

Author(s): Marcela Mikulová / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 2/2018

The idealistic and idyllic perception of reality in Slovak literature of the second half of the 19th century was seen as a legitimate part of the production of the old generation writers. The falsified image of reality was challenged by the production of the younger authors (Timrava, Tajovský, Jesenský). It their case it was enough to describe undestorted reality to seem polemic, i.e. anti-idyllic in contrast to the old generation of the writers. However, there was a writer who found himself split between the desire for a harmonious world and critical perception of reality – Martin Kukučín. Encouraged by the discussions in the Prague society Detvan he managed to benefit from the stimuli of European literature finding the basis for his philosophical reflections in the fundamental premises – the question of life and death, conscience, egoism, tradition, spiritual harmony and money. On the island of Brač in 1896 he began to write a long work of fiction inspired by observations of a local patrician family (the fragments were titled by the Complete Works editors Rodina/Family and Zádruha/Community) with the intention to describe a family idyll, harmony and togetherness. He was very disappointed to discover that the only thing that kept the aging childless siblings together was the wealth, which in line with the family tradition of not dividing the property had no actual heir. Kukučín was disgusted by the realistic depiction of the archaic traditions so much that the text, which he failed to write in an appropriate artistic form for that reason, remained in manuscript. Having had this experience as well as been disappointed by the time spent in Slovakia he wrote in 1896 a short story titled Svadba/Wedding. He did it in a vivid and emotional form of eclogue, and he used its lyric nature to a great extent as his emotional prophylaxis. The protagonist´s painful polarity between love for the parents and that for a woman suggests an analogy with the writer´s feelings when he realized he never wanted to come back to his homeland again.