Slovak Literature

This Slovak lecture from 2016 was published in the attached file.  It also appeared in English in 2018, in my co-edited issue of "World Literature Studies" on "Frontier Orientalism in Central and East European Literatures":
http://www.wls.sav.sk/?page_id=1275&lang=en

The aim of this paper is to present the preliminary empirical results of qualitative research that examines the junior-age-children´s understanding of a prosocial behavior present in fairy tale characters. The reasons for this research were the unsatisfying results in the PIRLS reading literacy measures achieved by Slovak pupils on the one hand, and the underrated position the formative function of literary texts has in Slovak classroom practice on the other hand. Besides other theories the research builds on the premise that literary text has „the potential to encourage prosocial behavior in children, but this aspect has been only minimally explored“ (Aram, Deitcher, Shoshan, & Ziv, 2017, pp. 157–158). Our research has qualitative, exploratory character; therefore, hypotheses are not formulated. On the contrary, an inductive approach is utilized. The focus is put on three key concepts: prosocial behavior, literary characters, and children´s reading comprehension. The research sample consists of both a set of literary texts (fairy tales) and the groups of pupils (3rd and 4th graders). The research was conducted in four phases: 1) theoretical analysis of prosocial behavior with focus on child´s prosocial development (see Schroeder & Graziano, 2015); 2) content analysis of Slovak fairy tales and the identification of characters with prosocial behavior (see Stanislavová, 2013); 3) designing the literary prosocial role models; 4) examination of children´s fairy tale reading comprehension and their understanding of the prosocial literary role model. In the last research phase the procedure of shared reading was used (see e.g. Tennent, 2015). The empirical data were collected via the research methods of observation, semi-structured interview and content analysis of children´s multimodal text reflection. Preliminary research findings imply the positive impact of shared reading on children´s successful inference making. Moreover, shared reading of the selected fairy tales seems to promote children´s processing of their individual interpretation of prosocial behavior found in literary characters. The findings may be beneficial for elaborating the shared reading strategies in primary literary education, what would foster the formative function of literary reading.

The article focuses on marginal work of one of the most important representatives of the Slovak National Revival. Ľudovít Štúr during his studies in Halle visited Lusatia and issued a travel book Journey to Lusatia (Taken in the Spring 1839). The text follows on the one hand, typical features of the revivalist manuscript (especially contemporary cliché), on the other hand, we illustrate the lack of a typical romantic stylization. The travelogue by Ľudovít Štúr is a type of utopian architectural concepts of monolithic and compact Slavs, who played an important role in the birth of the nation in the first half of the 19th century. Ľudovít Štúr offers a different kind of a patriotic travelogue than the one advocated in the literature, eg. by Ján Kollár. Postoj zformulovaný v literárněhistorické literatuře na margo básnické a odborné tvorby Ľudovíta Š t ú r a je prakticky dodnes platný a opakovaně je přebírán do dalších odborných publikací. Nejméně pozornosti je v ní věnováno Štúrově básnické tvorbě, naopak akcentována je jeho práce pro národ, odborné či publicistické aktivity. Štúrova básnická tvorba a literární texty na pomezí žánrů, jako je např. cestopis, jsou v dlouho-dobé perspektivě minimálně reflektovány. Známý je také postoj Alexandra M a t u š k y, který ve své eseji z roku 1965, tedy v eseji napsané k 150. výročí Štúrova narození, sice nesmlouvavě, ale s jistou laskavostí, napsal: "Nebol básnik veľkého formátu, realizoval sa ako organizátor. Nebol básnik, slovenský život k nemu nehovoril ako k básnikovi; a jednako nikto nedovidel pred ním do života u nás v takej šírke a hĺbke ako on […]" (Matuška 1990, 100). Matuškův názor tak posiluje tradici vysoce hodnocené odborné práce na úkor literární. Opakovaně se v souvislosti s výročními okamžiky vysouvá do popředí zřejmá tendence zpracovat i méně známé oblasti Štúrova působení. V tomto ohledu mají specifické postavení cestopisy, které se rozprostírají mezi doku-mentárností cesty za poznáním malého slovanského národa a básnickou imaginací. I pro Štúrovy cestopisy však platí, co napsal Alexander Matuška o jeho poezii. Básnické imaginace je v nich málo, figurativní jazyk vesměs ustupuje pragmatickým cílům. Rozhodně neplatí absolutně, že by obrozenské cestopisy (z třicátých a čtyřicátých let 19. století) zůstávaly zcela bez povšimnutí odborné veřejnosti. Zejména rozsáhlejší cestopisy, které vyšly knižně k sobě vážou odbornou pozornost opakovaně. 1) Štúrův cestopis je zpravidla zmiňován v literárněhistorických příručkách v souvislosti s jeho studijní cestou do Halle. Pochopitelnou výjimkou jsou monografie, které se primárně zaměřují na vývoj cestopisu. 2) Pokud je už Štúrův cestopis literární historií reflektován, 1/ Např. cestopis Jozefa Miloslava H u r b a n a Cesta Slováka ku bratrům slavenským na Moravě a v Čechách (1839). Hurban se vydal na cestu jen krátce po Štúrově cestě do Lužic. Hurbanova cesta je datována červencem 1839, kdy se vydává na cestu z Bratislavy do Vídně. 2/ Ve slovenském kontextu je to rozsáhlá monografie Z. K l á t i k a Vývin slovenského cestopisu (Klátik 1968), v českém prostředí nedávno publikovaná monografie o obrozenském cestopisu

Literary critical monograph Year after year (step by step) in Slovak literature for children and youth (Value aspects of original poetry and prose for children and youth in the years 1990 - 2020) was created on the basis of an analysis of thirty-year production of original literature for children and youth published in Slovakia. It is based on balance evaluation reports, which the authors systematically prepared on the annual literary production for children and youth from 1996 to 2020. In the 1990s and the beginning of the new century, balance sheet evaluations also fulfilled a bibliographic function: at that time, there was no cultural institution that would submit an almost complete inventory of what was created during the year in the original production. Gradually, with the development of the internetization of our society (the Internet publishing house Martinus was established, where it is possible to find virtually the entire production), the function of balance mapping lost its meaning and the emphasis remained on the literary-critical evaluation of the production. The design of balance evaluations concentrated a large volume of material suitable for system elaboration with the possibility of formulating careful syntheses. Such elaboration, completed by an analysis of the production of the first half of the 1990s, is attempted by the authors’ team in the present literary-critical monograph. The material obtained by balance evaluations is classified according to the literary kind and genre criterion into five areas. These genre-thematic subsystems are analysed separately in the present publication and form five chapters. The first chapter offers an analysis of the movements in production of poetry for children and youth over the past thirty years. The second chapter is focused on the reflection of the author’s fairy tale, which forms the largest genre of creation. The third chapter is devoted to developmental modifications and transformations of social prose for children and youth. The fourth chapter describes the situation in folklore genres and finally the fifth chapter offers a look at the transformations of factual and fantasy-adventure production. Within each chapter, the authors progress year after year, profiling the sinusoid of annual quantitative benefits within a particular genre, that is, how the genre in question was getting more powerful or weakened. Within the year, however, they also confront the creation in a certain genre in terms of value (works that the authors consider to be the most valuable are usually given more attention), or they outline qualitative ups and downs not only within a given year, but also within a decade. Each chapter is closed with a brief summary. The conclusion of the publication represents a careful attempt to outline the development curve of the original poetic and prose production for children and youth. Naturally, time will tell, whether and in what sense the evaluative attitudes of the authors of this publication have come closer to objectivity. Despite the symptom of subjectivity, which literary criticism cannot avoid in any case, despite a certain descriptiveness and perhaps also the methodological stereotyping of individual chapters, we express hope, that the set of information offered, arranged in terms of genre and chronologically within the genre, will be useful for those interested in contemporary literature for children and youth: as a source of bibliographic records of all that has been published in the course of thirty years from original poetry and prose; as a source which, with reference to creative trends and value relations, indicates the developmental pulse of Slovak children’s literature and its movement from the state of crisis in the mid-1990s to the unquestionable indications of its resurgence at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries; finally, as a source of information about such book titles, which represent a valuable contribution to the collection of literary production for children and youth. In this sense, the publication can be used to find good reading for all those, who work with children and youth.

Literárnokritická monografia (K)rok za (k)rokom v literatúre pre deti a mládež (Hodnotové aspekty pôvodnej poézie a prózy pre deti a mládež v rokoch 1990 – 2020) vznikla na báze analýzy tridsaťročnej produkcie pôvodnej literatúry pre deti a mládež vydanej na Slovensku. Jej základom sú bilančné hodnotiace prehľady, ktoré autori systematicky vypracúvali o ročnej literárnej tvorbe pre deti a mládež od roku 1996 do roku 2020. V 90. rokoch a začiatkom nového storočia plnili bilančné hodnotenia tak trochu aj bibliografickú funkciu: v tom čase nejestvovala kultúrna inštitúcia, ktorá by predložila takmer úplný súpis toho, čo v priebehu roka bolo v rámci pôvodnej tvorby vytvorené. Postupne, s rozvojom internetizácie našej spoločnosti (vzniklo internetové vydavateľstvo Martinus, kde možno nájsť fakticky celú produkciu), stratila funkcia bilančných mapovaní zmysel a dôraz zostal na literárnokritickom hodnotení tvorby. Koncipovanie bilančných hodnotení sústredilo veľký objem materiálu vhodného na systémové spracovanie s možnosťou formulovať opatrné syntézy. O takéto spracovanie, dopracované o analýzu produkcie prvej polovice 90. rokov, sa pokúša autorský kolektív v prítomnej literárnokritickej monografii. Materiál získaný bilančnými hodnoteniami je klasifikovaný podľa druhovo-žánrového kritéria na päť oblastí. Tieto žánrovo-tematické subsystémy sú v predloženej publikácii analyzované osobitne a tvoria päť kapitol. Prvá kapitola prináša analýzu pohybov v básnickej tvorbe pre deti a mládež za uplynulých tridsať rokov. Druhá kapitola je zameraná na reflexiu autorskej rozprávky, ktorá tvorí najmohutnejší žánrový prúd tvorby. Tretia kapitola je venovaná vývinovým modifikáciám a premenám spoločenskej prózy pre deti a mládež. Štvrtá kapitola približuje situáciu vo folklórnych žánroch a napokon piata kapitola ponúka pohľad na premeny faktuálnej a fantazijno-dobrodružnej tvorby. V rámci každej kapitoly autori postupujú rok po roku a profilujú tak sínusoidu ročných kvantitatívnych prínosov v rámci určitého žánru, teda to, ako príslušný žáner mohutnel alebo chradol. V rámci roka však zároveň konfrontujú tvorbu v určitom žánri aj z hodnotového hľadiska (dielam, ktoré autori považujú za hodnotovo najprínosnejšie, sa spravidla venuje výraznejšia pozornosť), resp. načrtávajú kvalitatívne vzostupy i „pády“ nielen v rámci určitého roka, ale aj v rámci desaťročia. Každá kapitola je uzavretá stručným zhrnutím. Záver publikácie je opatrným pokusom načrtnúť vývinovú krivku pôvodnej básnickej a prozaickej tvorby pre deti a mládež. Pravdaže, až čas preverí, či a v akom zmysle sa hodnotiace postoje autorov tejto publikácie priblížili k objektivite. Napriek príznaku subjektívnosti, ktorej sa literárna kritika tak či tak nevyhne, napriek určitej deskriptívnosti a azda i metodologickej stereotypnosti jednotlivých kapitol vyslovujeme nádej, že ponúkaný, žánrovo a v rámci žánru chronologicky usporiadaný súbor informácií bude pre záujemcov o súčasnú literatúru pre deti a mládež užitočný: ako prameň bibliografických záznamov o tom, čo všetko bolo v priebehu tridsiatich rokov z pôvodnej poézie a prózy vydané; ako prameň, ktorý odkazom na tvorivé trendy a hodnotové relácie naznačuje vývinový pulz slovenskej detskej literatúry a jej pohyb od stavu krízovosti v polovici 90. rokov literatúry a jej pohyb od stavu krízovosti v polovici 90. rokov až po nespochybniteľné indície jej opätovného vzopätia na rozhraní 20. a 21. storočia; napokon aj ako prameň informácií o takých knižných tituloch, ktoré predstavujú hodnotný vklad do fondu literárnej tvorby pre deti a mládež. V tom zmysle môže publikácia poslúžiť pri hľadaní dobrého čítania všetkým, ktorí pracujú s deťmi a mládežou.

34 / Toto je Ondrušov básnický triumf, to, že je schopný povedať niečo, čo jazyk sám nie je schopný vysloviť. Stig Saeterbakken Lineárne zjednodušené uchopenie poetiky Jána Ondruša nás vedie od počiatoč ných "seba-referenčných nábehov konca šesťdesia tych (...) a začiatku sedemdesiatych rokov (...) k jazykovému humoru a groteskám" (Matejov, 2005, s. 86).

Nový Sad, Srbsko INTERTEXTUALITA V POÉZII VÍŤAZOSLAVA HRONCA 1 V štúdii sa zameriavame na podoby intertextuality a jej funkciu v poézii Víťazoslava Hronca. Vychádzame z metodologických základov Teórie citovania (1990) Dubravky Oraićovej Tolićovej, ktorá intertextualitu chápe ako semiologickú a ontologickú zásadu. Intertextualita sa u Hronca prejavuje vo funkcii binárnej poetiky kontinuálnosti a odklonu, ako estetická norma hodnoty vlastného diela a literatúry vôbec.

Interliterariness and the History of Literary Translation in Rudo Brtáň ́s Monograph on Bohuslav Tablic.
The paper reflects on the history of literary translation and the interliterary relations presented in the monograph by Rudo Brtáň titled Bohuslav Tablic (1769 – 1832). Život a dielo (1974)/ Bohuslav Tablic (1769 – 1832). Life and Work (1974). This is the first complex monograph written on B. Tablic in the historiography of Slovak literary history and it is closely related to R. Brtáň ́s systematic interest in the history of Slovak literature of the national revival period. B. Tablic is reflected on as a pioneer of literary translation in Slovakia and his translations as well as his own literary production are placed in a wider interliterary context. The paper analyzes and assesses Brtáň ́s approach to the issues of literary historical and translatological reflection of Tablic ́s translations from German, English and French, it sees his translations and his own production in the Czecho-Slovak context, it maps the range of the authors translated and their links to the literary aesthetical preferences of that time. Brtáň ́s monograph is seen critically here, especially in contrast with newer literary historical findings and research into the history of literary translation. The paper points out to several historically constrained assessments of Tablic ́s translations (translations of the works by J. A. Hermes a J. J. Spalding), verifies Brtáň ́s inaccuracies when identifying the original texts of individual translations and translation adaptations (interconnections between ballads by G. A. Bürger and Tablic ́s production, the issue of Tablic ́s mistake about the authorship of the ballad by T. Percy The Hermit of Warkworth), in addition, Brtáň ́s analyses of his book translations (Anglické múzy v česko-slovenském oděvu/English Muses in Czecho-Slovak Clothing ) and the translation of Nicolas Boileau ́s Umění básnířské /The Art of Poetryare reflected on against a background of recent research into this subject.

The goal of the paper is to stimulate discussion about literary antisemitism in modern Slovak literature exemplified by one of its most notable writers, František Švantner (1912-1950). In line with the research trends in the Czech and German contexts, it draws attention to interconnections between literature and other discourses at that time, and the ambivalent nature of depicting Jews in literature, where negative stereotypes are combined with seemingly positive ones (literary "allosemitism"). The analysis of two selected novels and one novella reveals a modernized stereotype of the "Jewish usurer", which was present in Slovak literature from the early 19 th century. Under the influence of the rasist discourse the usurer stereotype was transformed into the parasite stereotype using the symbol of blood as the central metaphor. In the novel Nevesta hôľ / The Bride of the Ridge Švantner suggests the variant of vampirism, which is further developed in the novel Život bez konca / Life without an End in the sense of "racial impregnation", i.e. infection and contagion. In the novella Sedliak / The Peasant thematizing his personal experience with persecution of Jews during the World War II, the ambivalent nature of literary antisemitism is refferred to by questioning the victim status of the literary character, who he again portrayed by conforming to the parasite stereotype.

Jak se slovenská literatura vyrovnávala s kritickou první polovinou 50. let 20. století silně poznačenou schematizmem? Bylo možné nějakým způsobem vzdorovat politickému tlaku na literaturu či kulturu celkově a byl vůbec zájem tomuto tlaku odolávat? Autorka studie Pamflet jako dokument doby se snaží na ojedinělých dílech žánru politického pamfletu v slovenské literatuře poukázat na jeho specifika v prostředí totalitárního režimu, přičemž se na základě genologického rozboru pokouší nalézt případné žánrové posuny ve vybraných dílech.

The role of school as an educational-upbringing institution has to change in the 21st century. One response to the current problems of education is a broader definition of literacy. The author of the article focuses on moral literacy as one of the new literacies, which he considers to be one of the necessary parts of upbringing and education. Another response to improve the contemporary situation is to apply a holistic approach in teaching school subjects. The author of the article is trying to show the integration of literary competence and moral competence through content analysis of literary texts by writer P. Karpinský. The basic resource for analysis and interpretation of literary texts is the concept of prosociality through which it is possible to identify the degree of prosocial orientation in literary texts. A strongly prosocially oriented literary text is an appropriate means for the development of moral literacy.

Jozef Ignác Bajza za hranicou jozefínskej "slobody tlače" Cenzori a posudzovatelia ... musia byť dokonale pripravení na takúto úlohu, ... musia dobre ovládať jazyky, ktorými sú napísané knihy pridelené im na posudok, podobne musia mať nemalé vedomosti o všetkom, čo je obsahom i jadrom knihy, a napokon musia posudzovať nestranne bez pobočných ohľadov. Usmerňovať ich má vždy zásada nie kto, lež čo a ako píše, a nech preosievajú len dielo a nie aj osobu autora. Jozef Ignác Bajza sa v druhej časti románu René prostredníctvom jednej zo svojich postáv zmieňuje o tom, ako cenzúra zakázala jeho Rozličné verše. Pri tejto príležitosti podáva takúto charakteristiku cenzora. Čakali by sme, že Bajza, postihnutý stanoviskami a predpojatosťou cenzorov, ponúkne namiesto neutrálneho konštatovania, prenikavejšiu analýzu toho, čo je v systéme zlé... Bajza veril, že by mohol existovať niekto ako osvietený cenzor, ktorý bude dielo posudzovať objektívne. Jeho zrážky s represívnym cenzúrnym systémom umožňujú vnímať vnútorné protirečenia jozefínskeho obdobia. Umožňili mi vnímať osvietenský naratív slobody tlače a slobody prejavu ako fikciu a zároveň otvoriť tému autoregulácie jozefínskych spisovateľov vedúcu k úvahám o cenzúre ako trvalom stave sociálnej komunikácie. Bajza začal literárne tvoriť začiatkom 80. rokov, teda v období nástupu Jozefa II., v období, keď sa ako cisár pokúsil o komplexnú modernizáciu monarchie vo všetkých smeroch postavenej na ideách osvietenstva, na myšlienke rovnosti a rovnakej hodnoty všetkých ľudí. 1 Krátko po nástupe na trón prišiel Jozef II. s konceptom cenzúry. Do života boli uvedené ako Základné pravidlá pre ustanovenie systému knižnej cenzúry. Základné pravidlá boli tézy, schéma zakotvujúca predstavu o minimálnej regulácii knižného trhu. Knižného trhu, ktorý mal v osvietenských predstavách slúžiť rozptyľovaniu poznatkov a vzdelávaniu spoločnosti a v merkantilistickom koncepte bol považovaný za súčasť hospodárstva. Ďalšími kľúčovými slovami sú centralizácia a poštátnenie v zmysle dosledného eliminovania cirkvi z cenzúrnych orgánov, procesu, ktorý naštartovala Mária Terézia. To, čo nadšenci s nadšením a odporcovia s odporom nazvali "slobodou tlače" (Pressfreiheit), bola hierarchická sieť cenzorských bodov s definovanými postupmi. 2 V systéme tolerancie ku konfesiám fungovala súbežne vnútrocirkevná cenzúra. Autorom to mohlo mimoriadne skomplikovať život.

Death and Dying: Lifting of Taboos Illustrated through Contemporary Slovak Prose

Paradoxically, eros and thanatos – historically the most universal subjects of literature – conceal a considerable taboo: the death of a loved one. What tends to be tabooed is not death in the sense of a particular absolute event; it is thinking about death in the manner of coming to terms with another’s death, fear of death, anxiety about death, or wishing to overcome death. The attitude towards death changes over time at both the societal and individual levels. In present-day western society, it is one of the most tabooed social subjects. This article seeks to demonstrate the genuine and direct nature of literature, its capacity to change our perception of dying, with examples from contemporary prose by two Slovak authors. In his postmodern novella Kôň na poschodí, slepec vo Vrábľoch (A Horse Upstairs, A Blind Man in Vráble, 1989), Pavel Vilikovský depicts the protagonist’s fear of losing his connectedness as a result of his mother’s death. The novel Happyendy (Happy Endings, 2005) by Jaroslava Blažková is a personal epistolary account based on taking leave from her dying husband. In both cases, being faced with death implies some time to look into oneself, a certain degree of self-exploration, be this through writing, recollections, or dealing with the mother-son relationship. The relative frequency of such themes in contemporary prose testifies to the topicality and authenticity of such literature, no longer confined to itself, addressing topics that are socially significant but largely not spoken about. The gradual lifting of taboos about dying as featured in those literary texts points to the power of literature to shape and alter both the individual and social reality.
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The article is a contribution to the research of Slovak-Croatian literary and cultural relations. It focuses at the reception of Andrej Sládkovič (1820-1872) in the Croatian context. The second half of the 19th-century is investigated through the analysis of contributions to Croatian literary magazines and newspapers such as Danica, Dragoljub, Vienac, Slavonac and Nada. The analysis of the 20th-century and contemporary reception looks at texts published in various magazines, books and anthologies which contain translations by Luko Paljetak, Dubravka Dorotić Sesar and others. Since Sládkovič did not have any personal contacts with Croatian intellectuals of the time, the presence of his work in the 19th-century Croatian cultural space was scarce. Wider recognition of his oeuvre came much later and in the late 20th-century, it was intensified by the establishment of a Slovak studies programme at the University of Zagreb (as part of Czech studies in 1994 and as a separate programme in 1997). While in the 19th century, period magazines and newspapers-albeit sporadically-do mention Sládkovič, but do not contain any translations of his work, nowadays, translations are available, but are usually only known in the narrow academic circles of (mainly) Slavic studies experts.

Legenda o Konštantínovi a Doruntine, populárna v Albánsku najmä románovým spracovaním Ismaila Kadareho, predstavuje významný prvok balkánskeho folkóru. Pôvod albánskeho mýtu však siaha k ranobyzantskému obdobiu k dielu "Pieseň mŕtveho brata", ktorá sa rozšírila po celom Balkáne. Dokonca aj mimo neho v rámci cyklu "mŕtveho milenca". Oba cykly tvoria súčasť spoločnej tématiky o návrate mŕtvych a sú spojené aj s vampirickou tradíciou v slovanských folkóroch.

In Slovak poetry written in the early 20th century genres of occasional poetry were an integral part of the contemporary poetic register. Dedicated poetry – motivated by birth or death anniversaries of important people, establishments or anniversaries of significant institutions as well as current events of political, social, cultural and
literary life at that time – was a way for writers to respond to individual factual stimuli, which were, however, enriched with powerful emotional or evaluative connotations as part of their literary (aesthetic) reflection. A specific genre form of this kind of lyric included poetic appeals, messages and legacies, which were already in their titles addressed to group recipients. One of such collective addressees of occasional, dedicated poetry was the community of poets, more accurately characterized by their national, generational and poetological affiliation or affinity. In the 1920s the rhetoric genre forms of legacy, message and appeal were updated by a number of Slovak poets including three authors associated with Slovak modernism: Martin Rázus, Vladimír Roy and Štefan Krčméry. They did it with various intentions and intensity,
however, they together formulated anew the question of the relation between an artist-individualist and a nationally as well as professionally distinct group of creative people, and politics and poetics. In the context of the contemporary tension between traditionalism and modernism it was supposed to declare close links with tradition, positive vitality and an active stance on reality.

I Id de ea a s sł ło ow wi ia ań ńs sk ka a j ja ak ko o n na ar rz zę ęd dz zi ie e d dz zi ia ał ła al ln no oś śc ci i p pa at tr ri io ot ty yc cz zn ne ej j ((e ex xe em mp pl lu um m s sł ło ow wa ac ck ki ie eg go o p po oe et ty y r ro om ma an nt ty yc cz zn ne eg go o A An nd dr re ej ja a S Sl lá ád dk ko ov vi ič ča a)) T Th he e i id de ea a o of f S Sl la av vi ic c a as s a a t to oo ol l f fo or r p pa at tr ri io ot ti ic c a ac ct ti iv vi it ti ie es s ((E Ex xe em mp pl lu um m s sl lo ov va ak k r ro om ma an nt ti ic c p po oe et t A An nd dr re ej j S Sl lá ád dk ko ov vi ič ča a)) Abstrakt: Andrej Sládkovič-najwybitniejszy twórca słowackiego romantyzmu. Artykuł prezentuje rozwój idei słowianofilskiej w jego twórczości. Znaczenie poezji A. Sládkoviča dla rozwoju słowackiej literatury zarówno romantycznej i późniejszej. Ten twórca jako jedyny potrafił oprzeć się naciskom ideologicznym i z niezwykłą siłą wyrażał swoje romantyczne "ja". Nie bywał kojarzony jedynie z tematyką słowiańską. Słowa kluczowe: Andrej Sládkovič, romatyzm, pamslawizm Abstract: Andrej Sládkovič-the most prominent creator of Slovak romanticism. The paper presents the development of Slavophile ideas in his work. The importance of poetry A. Sládkoviča for the development of Slovak literature, both romantic and later. The creator as the only one able to resist the ideological pressures and the extraordinary power expressed his romantic "I". Nis not only frequented associated with the subject of Slavic.

201 slovenská literárna scéna 2015 v odbornej reflexii f . a • C . e 2019 í. Michal Habaj (1974) CAPUTMORTUUM Básnická zbierka, 2015. Bratislava: Občianske združenie Vlna / Drewo a srd, 172 s. "Nemuze-li logika falešného vedomí pravdivé poznat sebe samu, hleddní kritické pravdy o spektáklu musí být rovnéžpravdivou kritikou." 1 Ako, načo, o čom dnes písať o poézii? Písať o rebríčkoch predaja a knižných cenách? O jej (ne)schopnosti vychovávať a vzdelávať obyvateľstvo? O štátnom patronáte 2 a o aktuálnych funkciách a sociálnych rolách spisovateľa/spisovateľky? Diachrónne? Komparatívne? Kriticky? Interpretačne? Transdisciplinárne? Empaticky? Pre koho? Pre študujúcu mládež, aby si skopírovala a namemorovala zoznam motívov a popis konštrukčných postupov? Pre odbornú verejnosť, aby som bola citovaná? Pre centrálny register evidencie publikačnej činnosti? Ako ďalej v tejto kultúre, v tejto akademickej kultúre, v tejto knižnej kultúre, zaťaženej na prírodný výber, v tejto pravdepodobnostnej kultúre, kde veľa a rýchlo znamená dobre? 1 DEBORD, Guy: Společnost spektáklu. Prel. Josef Fulka a Pavel Siostrzonek. Praha: INTU, 2007, s. 80. 2 Pod štátnym patronátom nemyslím priame zasahovanie štátu do produkcie literatúry, teda model fungovania vydávania literatúry počas štátneho socializmu alebo za mečiarizmu. Mám na mysli, v nadväznosti na Lefevera, financovanie literatúry z verejných zdrojov: "Patróni sa snažia regulovať vzťah medzi literárnym systémom a inými systémami [...] fungujú prostredníctvom inštitúcií, ktoré vznikajú na to, aby regulovali -ak už nie písanie literatúry -, tak aspoň jej distribúciu. Ide o akademické pracoviská, cenzorské úrady, časopisy, ktoré kriticky reflektujú produkciu [a] vzdelávacie zariadenia." LEFEVERE, André: Translation, Rewritingand the Manipulation ofLiterary Fame. Londýn a New York: Routledge, 1992, s. 15. Pokiaľ nie je uvedené inak, všetky preklady z angličtiny I. H. 32

The aim of the paper is to approach the literary genre of the novel for women and its necessary modification in its application on Slovak socio-historical conditions of the 19th century. We attempt to legitimize the novel Sirota Podhradských as a specific and valuable contribution to Slovak literature from the socio-historical perspective as well as the genological perspective by the analysis of the text and by emphasizing the personal profile of the author. In this way it is also very important to highlight the Vansováʼs chosen strategy in her first novel Sirota Podhradských and also to clarify what goals the author followed with her strategy.

Písať recenziu na knihu je niekedy skutočne ťažké, obzvlášť ak ide o knihu, ktorej jadrom je filozofovanie o samých knihách a obzvlášť ak ide o autora, ktorého osobne poznáte a vážite si ho. V takom prípade je písanie recenzie pre recenzenta veľkou výzvou. "Je to výplod koronovej izolácie..." poznamenal profesor Dalimír Hajko a na stôl položil v prítomnosti predstavenstva Spolku slovenských spisovateľov svoju novú knihu Príbeh kníhkupca. Elegantný dizajn Hajkovej knihy je spojený s kvalitným obsahom o unikátnej téme, pre autora mimoriadne osobnej-príbehu svojho otca, prvého a jediného slovenského absolventa pražskej odbornej kníhkupeckej školy v tridsiatych rokoch 20. storočia-JOZEFA HAJKA, na ktorého pozadí autor predstavuje nielen povolanie kníhkupca na území Česka a Slovenska (resp. v tom čase Česko-Slovenska), ale aj jeho širší prínos pre kultúrnu stavbu, sociologické pozadie doby či osobný rodinný príbeh.

Publikácia Metodika na podporu čitateľstva žiakov v mladšom školskom veku je výstupom výskumného projektu VEGA 1/0455/18 Výskum a rozvoj čitateľstva žiakov mladšieho školského veku.
Zámerom projektu bolo objaviť príčiny znižovania čitateľstva žiakov s ich rastúcim vekom a zistiť možnosti stimulácie kognitívnej a receptívno-zážitkovej stránky čitateľstva na primárnom stupni školy a jeho následnej udržateľnosti. Našou ambíciou sa stalo vytvorenie čitateľského programu na podporu čitateľstva detí mladšieho
školského veku „Čítame deťom, čítame s deťmi“, ktorý synergicky spojil dospelých a deti s cieľom nájsť spôsoby, ako čitateľstvo „resuscitovať“ a zároveň inšpirovať k čítaniu.

Dominik Tatarka formuloval v rámci svojej publicistickej činnosti
koncepcie kultúry, ktoré sa stali integrálnou súčasťou duchovného a filozofického myslenia na Slovensku. Dnes už všeobecne známy osud Dominika
Tatarku ako disidenta, však aj napriek množstvu recenzií, článkov
a štúdií, ktoré s rozličnou bádateľskou prenikavosťou dokazujú živý,
i keď v odlišných dobách rozdielne motivovaný záujem, nemôžeme hovoriť
o komplexnom spracovaní Tatarkovho života a diela, a to predovšetkým
jeho teoreticko-koncepčných aktivít na poli slovenskej kultúry.
Jedným z nezanedbateľných faktorov, ktorý nemohol nepoznamenať
precizovanie publikácie, je súčasný stav literárnovedného skúmania
Dominika Tatarku, zameriavajúci sa predovšetkým na úzko špecifikované
otázky jeho umeleckej činnosti, v menšej miere i publicistickej tvorby
a aktivity v oblasti teoretickej reflexie kultúry. Celostné uchopenie života
a tvorby Dominika Tatarku v napojení na dobový spoločenský a kultúrny
vývoj a koncepčné otázky kultúry, v ktorom by sa identifikácia čŕt
jeho produkcie – a to tak umeleckej ako aj publicistickej a ich explikačné
možnosti – dali do súvislostí, absentuje.

Vysokoškolské učebné texty Ľudová slovesnosť v literatúre pre deti a
mládež je publikácia, v ktorej si kladieme za cieľ sprostredkovať študentom učiteľstva v bakalárskom štúdiu Predškolskej a elementárnej pedagogiky základné informácie o vybraných druhoch žánrov ľudovej slovesnosti, s ktorými sa dominantne stretávajú deti v predškolskom aj primárnom vzdelávaní.

Príspevok sa zameriava na rodové aspekty v slovenskej poézii pre deti v období od roku 1956 do súčasnosti. Na vybranom korpuse textov overuje platnosť troch hypotéz, a to 1) predpokladaného ústupu rodových stereotypov v poézii pre deti v danom časovom rozpätí; 2) nepriamej úmernosti medzi estetickou kvalitou textu a stupňom prítomnej rodovej stereotypnosti a 3) nižšieho výskytu rodových stereotypov u žien – autoriek. Výskum potvrdzuje ich platnosť a konštatuje zároveň boj preferencií medzi týmito premennými. Zároveň podrobnejšie rozoberá náplň a charakter rodových stereotypov v slovenskej detskej poézii a zisťuje hlavné trendy v ich vývine, a to: oslobodzovanie sa ženského lyrického subjektu, ktorý vstupuje do textu aj s autorkinými autobiografickými črtami, zväčšovanie podielu ženských postáv v dielach a legitimizácia, individualizácia a prehodnocovanie aspektov, tradične pripisovaných ženskému svetu.

The present paper explores gender stereotypes in Slovak children’s poetry books in the time span from 1956 up to the present. Three basic hypotheses are tested: 1) the decline in the amount and strength of gender stereotypes in time; 2) inverse proportion between aesthetic quality of the text and the degree of gender stereotypicality and 3) lower degree of gender stereotypicality in women writers. The research supports the hypotheses and asserts competition of the preferences among variables in them. The paper also deals with the character of the gender stereotypes in Slovak children’s poetry in detail. The major trends are as follows: the emancipation of the female lyric subject, who enters the text together with some aspects of the author’s autobiography, increasing amount of female characters and legitimisation, individualisation and revaluation of attributes traditionally connected with the female.

The paper focuses on poetic texts which develop the subject of plurality of inhabited worlds. It continues on the research into the forms of this subject in the European literary tradition and in the new Latin-language tractate literature of Slovak provenance. The beginnings of thematizing plurality of worlds in Slovak poetry in vernacular language date back to the times when the influence of the Enlightenment ideas was at its peak or was still noticeable. The subject is present in a number of passages from Tragoedia by Augustín Doležal, which is undeniably only a fraction of the whole work, however, the idea of plurality of worlds has its significance in the system of teodicea, which was followed by this piece of writing. The subject was introduced into Slovak translation poetry by English poet Alexander Pope´s poem An Essay on Man, translated by Bohuslav Tablic. The paper is based on the assumption that Slovak literature was evolving in the area of poetic reflection in a way similar to those in other Eurepean literatures. It forms parallels with 18th century Russian literary production based on closer interconnections between the works of A. Doležal and Mikhail V. Lomonosov. The conclusions show that the subject is represented by the works of significant Slovak poets from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The fact that it is part of a more complex ideological system proves strong links with the European intellectual and literary context.

The monograph Context of the Slovak Modern School is a contribution towards current research of Slovak literature at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It focuses on Modernist tendencies in Slovak cultural and social milieu, as well as on their literary reflection. The monograph  is related to the book Hľadanie moderny (Looking for the Modern School) by the same author from 2009. In both works, Modernist literature from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is perceived in broader contexts. In this book, we focus on literary life at the era; on the profile of the writers; as well as on particular themes and genres. We understand the context as a crucial category in order to understand texts. The intention of the book is to show how extrinsic and extra-literary conditions, circumstances, tensions and dilemmas influenced arts. Within this framework, we document, analyse and interpret selected problems and works by respective authors, wishing to show how Modernist poetry and fiction got established in Slovak literature at the beginning of the 20th century.
The monograph consists of fifteen chapters divided into four parts representing four contexts: literary context, context of authors, thematic context and context of genres.

PETER DAROVEC PETER PIŠŤANEK je prelomový autor deväťdesiatych rokov 20. storočia. A iste nie len preto, že slovenskej literatúre otvoril celkom nový svet mafiánov a prostitútok, ich životný štýl a prejavy správania vrátane poklesnutého jazyka. S nadhľadom a bez moralizovania písal o ľudskej povrchnosti, duchovnej vyprázdnenosti a intelektuálnej lenivosti, ale aj o manipulačných technikách moci. Mal a dodnes má veľa nasledovníkov, ale iba on dokázal spraviť z nízkej porevolučnej reality vysokú umeleckú literatúru.

K vybraným aspektom slovenskej literatúry po roku 1989 III. Semiopoetické a tematologické výzvy Filozofická fakulta Prešovskej univerzity v Prešove Ján Gavura (ed.) Ján Gavura (ed.). K vybraným aspektom slovenskej literatúry po roku 1989 III. Milan Kendra O inom a/ako o sebe samom. Fikčné biografie a možnosť ich autobiografického čítania 7 Pavol Markovič Semiopoetické aspekty próz Maroša Krajňaka 25 Mária Klapáková Modelovanie príznakového priestoru v románoch Ivany Dobrakovovej Bellevue a Pod slnkom Turína 42 Marta Součková Z Marakéša do Lináresu alebo od komiky k apokalypse 60 Marcel Forgáč O pohyblivosti poetík (Čítanie Součkovej písania o čítaní Dobrakovovej písania) 70 Peter Karpinský Variácie jánošíkovského motívu v troch desaťročiach (1990-2020) vývinu slovenského komiksu 80 Juraj Briškár Nespoľahlivo ľudský svet básne 101 Lenka Šafranová Poetologické konštanty a premenné súvisiace s tematizovaním smrti v básnickej zbierke M. Haugovej Z rastlinstva 110 Mária Regecová Sociálno-psychologické aspekty v poézii Evy Luky 119 Ján Gavura Semiopoetické súradnice a tematologické ťažiská v Buzássyho polsonetoch 128 Prešov 2021 Názov: K vybraným aspektom slovenskej literatúry po roku 1989 III. Semiopoetické a tematologické výzvy

The paper focuses on finding fixed collocations in Marína, the legendary love poem written by Slovak poet Andrej Sládkovič (1820 − 1872). these may uncover the semantic structure of the text and help solve several of its attractive discrepancies. the collocations are detected using the stateoftheart statistical measures, and the results are interpreted in the perspective of Sládkovičʼs multilayered dualism (Neo-Classicism vs. Romanticism, the particular vs. the universal, earth vs. heaven, etc.). In the conclusions to the study, some solutions of Sládkovičʼs personal crisis are shown, as found out on the grounds of the collocation analysis (cf. art for artʼs sake, religious mysticism).

The monograph (in Slovak and with an extensive resumé in English) Haugová's Plath, Plath's Haugová. On Slovak Translations of Sylvia Plath's Poetry analyses the Slovak translation of Plath’s poetry undertaken by the Slovak poet and translator Mila Haugová and published in 1989 under the title Luna a tis [The Moon and the Yew Tree]. Chapters of the book discuss the translation from various viewpoints and aim at capturing the translator’s approach in its complexity. They touch upon and interpret translator’s choice of poems for translation, the ways she renders the formal attributes of the poems and individual shifts of meaning and motifs that can be found in the translated poems. The current critical companion also looks at the complex of problems from the opposite direction – it aims at describing and explaining the affinities and differences between the two original authorial voices (especially in connection with the image of the female body and its functions in the text) as well as at understanding the impact the act of translating had on Slovak poet’s original writing. The author of the book adopts tools of corpus-based translation studies and context-based interpretation to do so. The final chapter of the work compares multiple Slovak and Czech translations of several Plath’s poems (except for Mily Haugová, these were undertaken by Slovak translators and poets Ján Buzássy and Milan Richter and Czech Jan Zábrana). The monograph also outlines the current situation in Slovak literary translation studies and uncovers links, ruptures and contradictions in the translated texts, adopting the discourse of translation criticism, but also a more notional translation studies discourse.

V prítomnej monografii sa autorka primárne zameriava na analýzu prekladu básní Sylvie Plathovej, ktorého autorkou je Mila Haugová a ktorý bol publikovaný vo výbere Luna a tis (1989). Jednotlivé kapitoly práce sa z rôznych uhlov pozerajú na prekladové dielo a na základe čiastkových interpretácií sa sústreďujú na postihnutie prekladateľkinej koncepcie. Všímajú si najmä otázku výberu textov na preklad, spôsob tlmočenia tvarovej stránky básne a individuálne posuny vo významoch a motívoch a dosah týchto operácií na identitu a interpretáciu výsledného textu. Haugovej Plathová, Plathovej Haugová sa však na problém pozerá aj z druhej strany – postihuje príbuznosti a rozdiely autorských poetík americkej a slovenskej poetky (najmä vo vzťahu k motívu ženského tela a jeho funkcií v texte) a snaží sa o vyhmatnutie pôsobenia Haugovej prekladateľskej aktivity na jej pôvodnú tvorbu, siahajúc po nástrojoch korpusovej translatológie v kombinácii s kontextom poučenou interpretáciou. V závere sa autorka zameriava na komparáciu dostupných slovenských prekladov jednotlivých Plathovej básní (okrem prekladov Mily Haugovej i na preklady Jána Buzássyho a Milana Richtera) a porovnáva ich aj s českým prekladom, ktorého autorom je Jan Zábrana. Súčasťou práce je aj ponor do súčasnej situácie v slovenskej translatológii literárneho textu. Práca interpretačne poodhaľuje súvislosti, ruptúry a protirečenia v textoch prekladu, miestami diskurzom prekladovej kritiky, inokedy nocionálnejším diskurzom translatológie umeleckého textu.

The monograph Hľadanie moderny (K problematike prózy Slovenskej moderny) [Looking for the Modern School (On Problems of Fiction in the Slovak Modern School)] discusses problems of forming and establishing Modernist fiction in Slovak literature at the beginning of the 20th century.
The first part of the book deals with history of ideas as well as with cultural and social contexts. It also describes extrinsic conditions, circumstances, dilemmas and controversies that got filtered into arts of that era, in particular into literature. Among contrasting concepts, one can mention differences between national or regional and cosmopolitan, between traditional and modern, between burgher/metropolitan and provincial, between ideological and aesthetic, between private and social, and other oppositions.
The core of the second part of the book contains interpretations of selected stories of the Slovak Modern School. These show two predominant themes of the School: love and crisis of subject/identity. Analyzed texts also point at a range of fiction genres in Modernism. In terms of style, stories represent various tendencies: Neo-Romantic, Symbolist, and Proto-Expressionist ones. Slovak Modern School which developed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is an established notion of Slovak literary history. Representatives of the Slovak Modern School mostly used Neo-Romantic and Symbolist poetics in their literary works, whereas Decadence was marginal and Proto-Expressionism was only present partially. Activities of the Slovak Modern School peaked between 1905 and 1912. Key writers of the Slovak Modern School were Ivan Krasko (1876 – 1958), Janko Jesenský (1874 – 1945), Ivan Gall (1885 – 1955), František Votruba (1880 –1953), Ľudmila Groeblová (1884 – 1968) and Vladimír Roy (1885 – 1936). Their work fully complied with modern aesthetic tendencies. However, modern sensations and corresponding poetic means were also present in works of other writers. Vladimír Hurban-Vladimírov, a.k.a. VHV (1884 – 1950), Vladimír Hurban-Svetozárov, a.k.a VHS (1883 – 1949), Martin Rázus (1888 – 1937), Samo Cambel-Kosorkin (1882 – 1935), Juraj Slávik-Neresnický (1890 – 1969), and somewhat younger Štefan Krčméry (1892 – 1955) are usually considered within the Slovak Modern School. Modernism is also noticeable in works of other writers who are perceived as marginal, such as Ivan Lilge, who used a pseudonym Lysecký (1886 – 1918). Ľudmila Podjavorinská (1872 – 1951) can be considered a predecessor of the Slovak Modern School, since she described feeling and sensations very similar to those that the Slovak Modern School expressed approximately ten years later.
Even though poetry was the predominant genre of the Slovak Modern School, fiction genres were developing simultaneously. In I. Krasko’s and J. Jesenský’s work, prose was considered a ‘supplement’ to their poetry, a sort of an ‘epic parallel of their lyric’. However, their prose represents a separate field and is an autonomous aesthetic statement on reality.
Modernist fiction favoured short genres – novellas and stories with reduced story (sujet). Titles or subtitles of fiction works prove that fragment was an important feature: stories were often characterized as margins, notes, and excerpts from diaries. Even though fiction maintained Realist structure of narration (Jesenský, Gall, and VHS), it used some Modernist approaches. It had lyrical character and contained poetic melody and rhythm. Tendency to overcome the difference between poetry and prose became common. Shifting borders between genres and approaches brought a new genre, poeme en prose, which reflected vital search for new contents and form (Krasko, Roy, Kosorkin, and Rázus). Epic story, on the other hand, used fragments and implications, was often unfinished, and its general mood was subtle and subdued.
Modernist writers expressed new feelings – emotional frustration, failure, disappointment, loss, intellectual torture and crisis. Mental states of hopelessness, sadness, doubts, solitude and abandonment prevailed. Sensation of crisis was also expressed by oscillation between activity and passivity, between harmony and chaos. Another feature common for the authors of the Modern School was the type of their literary statement: literary work was composed as an artistic statement about oneself, as a form of self-expression. Style, common for most writers, emphasized lyrical moods and spontaneity of senses. It contained impressive depictions of emotional states and problems. Misunderstandings and crisis of communication between partners were a prolific theme. Male representatives of the Slovak Modern School (Krasko, Gall, and Jesenský) showed passivity and melancholy of male protagonists, whereas the only female writer of the School, Ľudmila Groeblová in her story On (He, 1907) brought a different interpretation of the theme.
As mentioned above, two themes were predominant: love and crisis of subject/identity. Love was mostly unhappy, and solitude, silence, mask and lie were key motives associated with this theme. Key motif used to show the crisis of subject/identity was the dilemma between reason and faith. Modernist subject disturbed by the loss of ideals experienced emptiness, pessimism, and lack of belief. Protagonists lost joy of life and often acted as prematurely old people (motif of young old men). Important but conventional motives were dreams and hallucinations. These motives have not been sufficiently underlined and studied, even though they were present both in fiction (Rázus, Gall, Kosorkin, Roy, and Lilge) and poetry (Krasko, Gall, and Roy). Situations of deliria and dreams were associated with weakness, fear, despair and helplessness. Delirium and hallucination were present in dreams but also related to madness, mental illness or neurosis which was considered an ache of ‘modern’ man (Gall, VHS, and Krasko).
Slovak Modern School connected universal aesthetic tendencies with specific features of the national literature (its regional form), which was traditionally perceived mostly through its national concept. The emphasis on the national aspect in literary development caused that topical themes of that era were re-evaluated in Slovak milieu. Consequently, aesthetic function became autonomous and author’s individual creative capacity got respected. This innovative role of the Slovak Modern School caused that Modernist works from the beginning of the 20th century are among pillars of modern Slovak literature.

The Slovak Modern School is an established term in literary history, used for Modernist literary works written at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Authors of the Slovak Modern School were influenced by Neo-Romanticism and Symbolism, partially also by Impressionism and to some extent by Decadence. Since they did not have intensive personal contacts, they did not create a separate group with their own manifesto, as was common in other European literatures. However, they shared themes and poetics. They mostly wrote about emotions, moods and intellectual crises; about losses, failures, disappointments and restlessness.
First signals of the new poetics in Slovak literature appeared before 1900. The Slovak Modern School reached its climax between 1905 and 1912. [This period was marked by two Modernist collections of verse, Janko Jesenský‘s Verše (Verses, published in 1905), and Ivan Krasko’s collection with the identical name (published in 1912)] Aftermaths of Modernism appeared in the 1920s, with Neo-Symbolism in poetry and fin de siècle moods and attitudes in prose.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, modernity was a key notion for artistic self-definition. It was connected to the ideas of novelty and change. Modern, contemporary trends were extremely important. Modernism can be understood as a period, an ideology, a style or a set of stylistic signs, but it cannot be defined exclusively through formal and aesthetic categories. Instead, research must include linguistic, social and sociological contexts.
The notion of the Slovak Modern School did not originate at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries but in the 1930s when this period began to be researched. The terminology developed gradually: different notions, such as Modernism, Mladé Slovensko (Young Slovakia) and Krasko’s School (in honour of the most important poet of the School, Ivan Krasko) were used. The concept of Mladé Slovensko (Young Slovakia) referred to a Polish movement Młoda Polska. It also included political efforts. In the 1940s, Slovak Structuralists (for example, Ján Bakoš and Ján Brezina) used the term Krasko’s School, but it only referred to the most important figure of the School. A literary historian Michal Gáfrik was the first person to discuss terms modern – modernity – Modernism in the Slovak context, considering the Slovak Modern School. He introduced the notion of the Slovak Modern School; and it has been used since the 1960s. It did not contain the element of evaluation. Instead, it emphasized approaches of literary history and connections with similar situations and contexts in other national literatures.
Six key authors of the Slovak Modern School were: Ivan Krasko (real name Ján Botto, 1876 – 1958), Janko Jesenský (1874 – 1945), Ivan Gall (real name Ján Halla, 1885 – 1955), František Votruba (pen name Andrej Klas, 1880 –1953), Ľudmila Groeblová (1884 – 1968) and Vladimír Roy (1885 – 1936). Their works are valid manifestations of Modernist aesthetic tendencies in Slovak literature. Modern perception of life and corresponding poetics were also present in works by other writers, such as Vladimír Hurban-Vladimírov (pen name VHV, 1884 – 1950), Vladimír Hurban-Svetozárov (pen name VHS, 1883 – 1949), Martin Rázus (1888 – 1937), Samo Cambel (pen name Kosorkin, 1882 – 1935), Juraj Slávik (pen name Neresnický, 1890 – 1969) and Štefan Krčméry (1892 – 1955). Slovak Modernism also had some predecessors, such as Ľudmila Podjavorinská (real name Ľudmila Riznerová, 1872 – 1951), the first female author in Slovakia who published a collection of verse Z vesny života (From Spring of the Young Age, 1895). Modernist tendencies were also noticeable in works of marginal authors, such as Ján Uram (pen name Horin, 1883 – 1956) and Ivan Lilge (pen name Lysecký, 1886 – 1918).

This article analyses the 2006 novel Wizard of the Crow by
Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o in a post-Cold War context
as a postcommunist picaresque novel. Using the instruments
of postcommunist and world-systems theory and comparing
the novel to Eastern and Central European postcommunist
writing, it shows how the concerns and aesthetics of both
post-totalitarian discourses overlap. It is argued that postcolonial
and postcommunist literature describes a crisis of identity
symptomatic of all post-dependence cultures and represents
discursive resistance to global capitalist modernity in which
the meaning of the truth (historical, moral, cultural) has been
destabilized. Emphasizing that any ideology can be a source of
violence and colonization, Ngũgĩ’s novel, like the novel of his
Slovakian counterpart Peter Pišťanek, calls for the breaking
down of the traditional political binaries –Marxist/liberal, communist/fascist, socialist/capitalist, patriarchal/feminist –opening
up space for new meanings.

The study maps and describes the production of electronic literature in the Slovak cultural environment. Even though it focuses on the era after communism, theoretical texts on the connections between cybernetics and arts, with discussions on the possibilities for literature and literary theory, dating from the 1950s onwards, are also presented. The study divides Slovak electronic literature according to the way the authors treated the digital text: whether they appropriated the existing one (Legel, Labuda, Barok, Gruska, Bartoš, Ivan, Husárová-Panák, Šicko), combined the appropriated text with their authorial text (Juhász, Kitta) or wrote their own text (Šulej, Murin, Juhász, Husárová – Panák).

Many sociologists have attributed several negative characteristics to the contemporary period.The child of 21st century is lost in this postmodern society, so it needs, more than ever before, a beacon – a prosocial role model. Several studies have confirmed the irreplaceable importance of the principal role models – parents and teachers – in the development of a child. However, the amount of time that parents and teachers dedicate to the upbringing of children is reduced, therefore it is necessary to look for other effective strategies of upbringing children. In the view of the author of this study, one of the means for upbringing and educating children is a literary character as a prosocial role model. The study presents four prosocial literary role models in modern Slovak fairy tales, which can be utilised by educators in the upbringing of junior school aged children.

Mnohí sociológovia pripisujú viacero negatívnych atribútov súčasnej dobe. Dieťa 21. storočia sa v tejto postmodernej dobe stráca, preto potrebuje viac ako kedykoľvek predtým oporný bod – prosociálny vzor. Viacero výskumov potvrdilo nenahraditeľný vplyv hlavných vzorov – rodičov a učiteľov na vývin dieťaťa. Čas rodičov a učiteľov sa však na výchovu dieťaťa skracuje, preto je potrebné hľadať ďalšie efektívne stratégie výchovy dieťaťa. Jedným z prostriedkov výchovy môže byť podľa autora štúdie aj literárna postava ako prosociálny vzor pre detského recipienta. Príspevok predstavuje štyri prosociálne literárny vzory zo slovenskej súčasnej autorskej rozprávky, ktoré by mohli vychovávatelia použiť v rámci výchovy dieťaťa mladšieho školského veku.