The Jewish World in the Prose Works of Mychajlo Šmajda

Abstract

In this contribution we analyse images of Jews in two prose works by the writer Mychajlo Šmajda. These are the novel Lemkos (1964) and the short story Contraband (1989), both of which are written in Ukrainian. Ukrainian literature in Slovakia is represented by members of the Ukrainian (previously Ruthenian-Ukrainian) minority, who are considered the indigenous population of the northeastern part of Slovakia. These hitherto unexplored literary monuments reflecting the legacy of the Jewish minority represent a source of intangible wealth and the only mementos of this ethnic group, which once constituted an integral component of the history of Europe.

Keywords

• jews
• ruthenians
• ukrainian literature
• slovakia
• mychajlo šmajda