Literary Criticism in the Era of Samizdat

Abstract

The present paper deals with the specific poetics of literary critical writings which were published in Slovak literary samizdat in the late 1980s. They are writings which were published in selected samizdat editions of magazine Fragment K in 1987-89. The set of values of the Slovak dissident community in the area of literary criticism in the period of time in question was mainly formed by Ivan Kadlečík, Milan Šimečka a Martin M. Šimečka. The reviews, glosses, feuilletons feature strong autobiographic elements. The magazine Fragment K also paid attention to the official literary periodicals (especially Literárny týždenník) and reviewed the Soviet film production strongly influenced by Gorbachev´s Perestroika. The scope and character of the magazine, especially the volumes mentioned above, became more and more similar to the standard literary periodical. Inspite of the difficult conditions its editors and publishers permanently faced (repressive activities of the State police), the magazine cultivated the space of free literary production.

Keywords

• samizdat
• literary criticism
• autobiography