Slovenska Literatura (May 2021)
Sládkovič today
Abstract
The poet, translator, literary critic and protestant priest Andrej Sládkovič (1820 – 1872) is generally considered a foremost poet of the Romantic generation. He authored two key works of Slovak literary Romanticism, Marína (1846) and Detvan (1853) – long poems that have significantly influenced further development of literature written in Slovak. There are two basic positions from which literary history views his oeuvre. These are based on the divided standpoints from which the whole period of Slovak literary Romanticism is viewed. Academics either see it as a single, undivided, conservative and nation-centred unit or as a polyphonic and progressive movement open to other European literatures. Advocates of the former opinion interpret Sládkovič’s works as part of national literary history the aim of which is the assertion of folk national identity. The opposing group of scholars emphasises the unique qualities of Sládkovič’s poetry and positions it within wider philosophical and aesthetic contexts of 19th-century European culture. From this point of view, developmental interferences of Slovak Romantic literature are seen as a dynamic part of multifaceted processes of the given period.
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