Andrej Sládkovič and the Memorandum of the Slovak Nation

Abstract

Andrej Sládkovič (1820 – 1872) was not only a priest and a poet: he also wrote reports from cultural and political events and provided feedback to the works of others. Among other things, he considerably contributed to the publication of the minutes and diary from the Slovak national assembly held in Martin on 6th and 7th June 1861 where the Memorandum of the Slovak nation was adopted. A. Sládkovič assembled all the materials from the event and prepared them for publication. His goals in this regard were to provide information, preserve the memory of the events, and reflect on the activities of the Slovak nationally-oriented intelligentsia. In this way, he captured the personalities connected to the national movement and events forming national awareness. The article describes the circumstances under which A. Sládkovič participated on the documenting of the memorandum assembly and shows that he contributed not only to the preparation of the materials for publication, but also to the capturing of the atmosphere under which the document was written.

Keywords

• andrej sládkovič
• memorandum of the slovak nation
• slovak romanticism
• nationalism
• historical document
• literary representations