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In recent years literature hasshown again andagain that it is aviable literary organism, inwhich avariety ofcompositional approaches andauthors’ groupings coexist without notable problems (even ifsometimes inhabiting separate parallel worlds andindifferent to oreven ignorant ofone another’s existence). Current literature, andcurrent literary life, take ondiverse forms, andmost importantly they function in anenvironment which atleast outwardly accepts andtolerates this diversity, though aesthetic estimation might bequite another matter.
After thehectic 1990s with their revaluation ofvalues and quest fornew spaces andopportunities, there hasbeen agradual clearing andstabilisation ofthe literary milieu, aprofiling ofgenerations and amutual respect between them, and adefinition ofgenres andthemes. Theyoung authors whomade their debuts inthe 1990s with aforceful anddemonstrative individualism today, ineffect, form amiddle generation. Prose-writers such as, forexample, Márius Kopcsay, Michal Hvorecký andPeter Macsovszky, bynow have arich authorial register and acrystallised style. Turning tothe older generation, itskey authors (and notonly inthe time perspective ofthe last twodecades) include Pavel Vilikovský, Stanislav Rakús, Dušan Dušek, Alta Vášová... Newnames also areappearing inliterature, bringing newimpulses ornew points ofview, e. g. Ivana Dobrakovová andMichaela Rosová. One useful way ofgetting acloser perspective on contemporary literature is tofocus onone ofits currently characteristic features: theinclination towards thetheme ofremembrance, autobiography andauthenticity. This isnot anew theme inthe literary context (one need only recall thewriting ofRudolf Sloboda, Vincenta Šikula orIvan Kadlečík). In 2005, however, itseemed toresound polyphonically, andsince that time ithas been reappearing continually. Coincidentally, three leading authors addressed this theme atthe same moment: Pavel Vilikovský intwo stories inhis collection The Magic Parrot andOther Kitsch, Jaroslava Blažková inher Happyends letters, andEtela Farkašová in It Happened. Inall ofthese thefoundation ofthe work wasthe autobiographically based experience ofloss (the dying anddeaths ofnear ones), conceived as afundamental existential situation, agreat external upheaval, ashock. Although theautobiographical basis isnot equally transparent inall ofthese books, andalthough they donot have anequal measure oftension between thereality anddocumentary fidelity ofthe texts onthe onehand andtheir fictional andimaginative quality onthe other, nonetheless they have acommon keyfactor, thearrangement ofmemories. Thewriting isintended toformulate what hasbeen preserved andshould remain preserved. Inall three cases thestories arelayered, time andspace levels trespass upon oneanother, and inplace ofcoherent exposition there isdecomposition, while instead ofcontinuity there aresequences, images, episodes, fleeting moments. These memory-laden prose pieces payspecial attention tothe question ofthe category oftime – or toput itdifferently, thecoexistence of anumber oftime layers secures thedistinctive time dimension which istheirs. Incessant alternation ofposition onthe pastpresent time axis hasits counterpart inthe alternation ofvarious concepts ofwriting: personal notebooks alternate with texts byothers, reading ofothers, andevocation oftheir world, which alltogether create thestructured statement ofthe author.
Such breaches oflinearity arebecoming afurther important feature ofcontemporary prose. Thesignificance ofthe fragment andthe aspect ofmemory aredecisive also forthe highly personal books Islands ofOblivion byAlta Vášová (2008) and Almost Invisible by Jana Bodnárová (2008). Important inboth arelists, fragments, memories, writing as amethod ofavoiding oblivion, thedesire toconstruct one’s album ofmemories, toapproach thehuman being viathe abyss oftime. Thetwo authors work from different positions onthe spectrum ofprosaic versus poetic writing, matter-of-factness versus lyricism, objectivity versus subjectivity, buteach ofthem offers something inthe mode ofliterary autobiography. Asdid anauthor of anentirely different generation, Ján Rozner (1922–2006), inhis posthumously published books Seven Days tothe Funeral (2009) and Night onthe Front (2010).
However, theautobiographical element isequally impossible tooverlook inauthors ofthe younger middle generation. Their accumulating andponderedupon experience oflife andliterature isshifting their literary statement (as compared totheir preceding texts) towards more layered andintellectually structured narratives. Thepower ofthe autobiographical element can beseen inreturns tochildhood, reminiscences ofyouth, andreflection onrealities actually lived. This is decisive inVeronika Šikulová‘s work (A Little House AtOne Stroke, 2009), andits features may betraced also inJana Beňová’s Seeing People Off, 2008. Márius Kopcsay employs it intraditional style (Bear Rock, 2009).
Through thewriting which makes upthe first part of her book, Veronika Šikulová seeks tocome toterms with theloss ofher father. Shewants togive utterance toher sorrow andher feelings ofbeing lost inthe world. Herelaborated literary reminiscences ofchildhood, thefamily milieu, andrelationships with family, neighbours andfriends, arefragmentary, episodic, butcast in anepic form where words, verbal conjunctions, sentences, images, arereiterated like refrains. Theemphasis is on aliving, even elemental storyteller’s art, constantly evoking Vincent Šikula. InJana Beňová, too, autobiographical experience, anauthentic intimacy ofrelationships and apersonally lived space inreal time coordinates, have astable place. Shetoo builds upon comprehension ofthe world through fragments: episodes, torn-off orbroken-off pieces, sequences, moments, scraps andsplinters, little sections which intheir accumulation create aconcise literary world as aform ofauthorial statement about herown human quest, especially regarding therelationship ofman andwoman andthe world around. Despite itsconcrete localisation andits translucent autobiographical basis, this is atext distinguished byopenness: it isnot bound orshackled byregional frontiers. Inits ownway it isuniversal.
Another recurring feature ofcontemporary prose isthe renewed interest in amodern treatment ofhistoric themes. Jana Juráňová, forexample, employs stories from thepast tomount asustained attack onthe stereotypes andconventional interpretations ofwomen insociety (Mediatrix, 2006, I Lived With Hviezdoslav, 2008), continuing onthe lines traced out inher earlier stage play Silver Bowls, Excellent Vessels. By contrast, Dušan Šimko in Gubbio. TheBook ofInformers makes asix-fold sounding ofthe past with asingle aim – tograsp onetheme inthe flow oftime, tocapture themutations of asingle type ofhuman conduct invarious social formations. Šimko’s turning tothe past is aquest foranswers totoday’s questions; it is asearch forthe reasons andmotivations which have ledpeople atvarious times, andstill lead them today, toinform. Behind thechanges ofviewpoint onthe theme ofinforming, shifts inthe author’s strategy aresimultaneously outlined: literary fiction, autobiography, authenticity, historical documentary, journalism. Andlikewise atendency away from asingle interpretation towards aplurality ofpoints ofview. Although theauthor’s point ofdeparture isthe present, with thepassage oftime he isimmersing himself more andmore inthe past. Here also acurrent theme hasbecome auniversal theme: informing as amatter ofthe morality andethics ofpeople invarious times. Gubbio, however, isnot just abook about informing – analmost equally important theme isemigration, theemigrant’s lot, thehuman experience of apolitically oreconomically forced residence inforeign lands. Here theauthor notonly draws onhis ownexperience but atthe same time sketches some distinctively personal reflections on thehistory ofemigration inone particular country, Switzerland.
Pavel Vilikovský also addresses thetheme ofthe past in The Autobiography ofEvil (2009), which includes twocharacteristic detective stories with ahistorical background, asdoes Pavol Rankov, whoafter writing anumber ofshort story collections produced in 2008 thehistorical novel It Happened OnSeptember theFirst (or Whenever). Set inthe time-frame 1938–1968, this is anattempt tocapture inepic form thehistorical peripeteia ofthe 20th century through thestory ofthree friends andthe common love oftheir lives.
Also settling accounts with thenot-so-distant past is Stanislav Rakús, anauthor whohas concentrated ondeveloping atype ofepic prose where coherent plot isreplaced by aseries ofindependent, diverse and atfirst glance seemingly unconnected episodes, united only inthe main character’s head. Hisprose work haspaid special attention tothree favoured themes: theperiod ofnormalisation, literature, andliterary theory. Hisnovel The Eccentric University (2008) andshort story collection Telegram (2009) confirm this line ofinterest. Both books layemphasis onliterature asdynamic narrative interfusing serious andcomic, high andlow, theoretical andelemental, aristocratic andplebeian, with theprinciple ofnarrative itself placed atthe forefront.
In this brief sketch Ihave left thefield ofpoetry to one side. Comparing itwith prose, as anunsystematic layreader Ihave the (entirely subjective) feeling that inpoetry thegenerational change hasbeen even more dramatic andintensely lived personally – not interms ofschools ofpoetry, but as afeeling ofgenerational closeness andthe corresponding search formeans toexpress it. Atthe same time, paradoxically, theindividual generations ofauthors seem tohave conducted amuch more intimate inner dialogue among themselves. Here forthe purpose ofinformation Ican only mention afew names ofthose whohave had ashare inthe formal orthematic multiplicity ofcontemporary poetic statement: Ján Buzássy, Mila Haugová, Ivan Štrpka, Ján Štrasser – Karol Chmel, Erik Groch, Peter Milčák, Marián Milčák, Stanislava Repar, Peter Macsovszky – Mária Ferenčuhová, Katarína Kucbelová, Ľubica Somolayová, Jana Pácalová, Michal Habaj, Martin Solotruk, Ján Gavura, andPeter Bilý.
Translated by
John Minahane
