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The Reception of Slovak Interwar Novels Before and After the Year 1989

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2019

Abstract

In the 1989, the reflection on the Slovak interwar literature was to change dramatically, yet the result this post regime-change rethinking is unclear due to several reasons. The foundation of the very first democratic Czech and Slovak state opened a free space for creativity and energized new directions in literature, only to be later demolished by the theory of Soviet socialist realism accepted in late 40s and early 50s of the 20th century.

This theory of art and literature omitted authors from interwar time period that did not follow the rules and aesthetic patterns, as if they had disappeared from cultural and social life. Some of the novels from interwar period were no longer on display (such as Cesta životom by Ladislav Nádaši-Jégé or Vízum do Európy by Ivan Horváth), were altered (Živý bič and Hmly na úsvite by Milo Urban) or ceased to be published (Atómy Boha by Gejza Vámoš or Pani Heléne by Milan Thomka Mitrovský) or few of them were temporary banned.

Certain novelists were prevented from publishing by the socialist government (M. Urban and T.J.

Gašpar). In this paper, I will focus on the persecuted interwar authors and their novels and short stories and its reception in early 50s, during the more free 60s and the following era of social and cultural "Normalization".

I will add reflection and criticism of the aforementioned authors after 1989 and its social impact nowadays.