Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav and the Celebrations in Prague in May 1918 (The Czecho-Slovak Path Towards Canonisation of cultural saints)

Abstract

Drawing also on formerly unexplored period documents, the article analyses the impact of Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav’s participation in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the laying of the National Theatre’s foundation stone on the 16th – 18th May 1918. The contribution is methodologically grounded in the comparative-analytical model of the canonisation of cultural saints as outlined by J. Leerssen and M. Dović (J. K. Helgason – M. Dović: National Poets, Cultural Saints: Canonization and Commemorative Cults of Writers in Europe, 2017). Through the prism of Hviezdoslav’s visit, the article follows the transfer of his personality and work from the secluded microcosm of intellectual elites into the public macrocosm of the future state-forming community. The poet’s transformation into a cultural saint, facilitated among other things by his speech addressed to Czech and Slovak extra-literary recipients at the celebrations, signified his approval for the ideology of Czechoslovakism. Historical importance of this visit to Prague consisted mainly in the fact that it was the first public acceptance of the envisaged integration into a common state.

Keywords

• pavol országh hviezdoslav
• national poetry
• cultural saints
• model of canonisation
• czecho-slovak literary relations
• national theatre celebrations in prague on 16th – 18th may 1918