Slovenska Literatura (May 2016)
On Reception of The Cultural and Critical Articles by A. Matuška Written in the l 930s in the Slovak and Czech Cultural Enviroments (Tido J. Gašpar, Ferdinand Peroutka)
Abstract
The present literary historical study focuses on reconstructing the outer circumstances of the cultural life in the first half of the 1930s, which had a significant influence on reception of Alexander Matuška´s early work in the Slovak enviroment. The study consists of two chapters – the first one deals with an attempt at unifying the Slovak cultural enviroment on the national basis in the name of the slogan by Tido J. Gašpar „Dajme sa dokopy“ („Let´s get together“), the other one presents Slovak polemics concerning the Czech monthly Přítomnost, which Matuška cooperated with in the 1930s. The material resource of the research is provided by selected society and culture magazines, which were used as a platform for the clashes of world views and were the most influential media of the times. (Přítomnost, Slovenské pohľady, Elán, DAV, Pero, Nový svet, LUK etc.). Against a background of the selected polemics over Alexander Matuška, which also involved Tido J. Gašpar and Ferdinand Peroutka, the author of the study takes account of the ideological clashes in the Slovak cultural life of the 1930s. What becomes the centre of attention is the conflict between the Slovak and the Czechoslovak identities and the confrontation between the modern paradigm of Slovak culture and its traditional form, i.e. the arguments between the progressive and conservative parts of the Slovak cultural elites. Matuška´s juvenile critical gesture along with the reactions it triggered are thus interpreted as part of a wider discourse structure – intense contemporary discussions on the cultural dimension of the so called „Slovak issue”.
