Jozef Felix’s theoretical contributions to textual studies

Abstract

The article outlines the profile of editorial work of Jozef Felix (1913 – 1977) and aims at grasping his conceptual contribution to research in Slovak textual studies and his influence on editorial practice in the 1950s when Slovak culture paid great attention to the publishing of literary heritage. The author takes into consideration the fact that J. Felix formed his vision of textual studies’ strategies and aims of the discipline and editorial practice under the conditions and restrictions of the period (and in confrontation with these). The article identifies basic features of Felix’s editorial approach that – since he was an editor of the section for Slovak and Czech literature at the Slovak Publishing House of Belles-Lettres – shaped the development of editorial practice in Slovakia. Drawing on Felix’s key essays on the topic, especially on his O vydávaní klasikov ([Publishing the classics], 1953), Poznámky k vydávaniu Spisov Jána Kalinčiaka ([Notes on publishing Ján Kalinčiak’s oeuvre], 1954), and the interview Prekladať diela našich klasikov do dnešnej slovenčiny? ([Should we translate the work of our classics into contemporary Slovak?] 1957), the article scrutinises his initiatory activities regarding the conceptual consolidation of textological principles, the contradictory issues pertaining to these, and the positive and negative impact these had on subsequent editorial projects. In this way, the paper contributes towards the knowledge of the history of Slovak textual studies.

Keywords

• jozef felix
• slovenské vydavateľstvo krásnej literatúry [slovak publishing house of belles-lettres]
• textual studies
• editorial practice