Slovenská literatúra

3

Authors: Lenka Rišková

Remembering Viliam Turčány (1928 – 2021) - obituary

4

Authors: Tamara Janecová

Domorák, Daniel: Stimuli of Existence

6

Authors: Marek Debnár

The article focuses on distant reading approaches and the ways literary studies can use these for research of various semantic fields of authors’ corpora (or subcorpora). It provides a closer look at the methodological facets of these approaches, evaluates their adequacy and the possibilities of implementation of chosen linguistic methods in literary studies. These aspects are reflected in polemics with methods and conclusions presented in Richard Změlík’s Konceptualizace barev v narativní fikci na pozadí kvantitativních modelů ([Conceptualisations of colours in narrative fiction on the background of quantitative models] Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého, 2019, 320 pp.) in which the author employed the methodology of distant reading on the corpus of fiction written by the Czech writer Ján Čep (1902 – 1973). The paper aims at contributing to a wider discussion on quantitative methods of distant reading, their application in literary studies and the creation of authors’ specialised and general reference representative literary corpora.

9

Authors: Petr Getlík

The article takes as its topic quantitative approaches used in the study of literature. In the field of digital humanities, these are most readily represented by the method of distant reading developed by Franco Moretti. The aim of the article is to evaluate the possibilities and challenges the given method poses. At the same time, it wishes to offer new solutions with regards to the explanation of the seemingly asymmetrical quantitative data in the context of possible interpretations of a work of literature from the perspective of cognitive literary studies. Reflections presented in the paper are based on Richard Změlík’s quantitative research. In his methodologically-centred monograph Konceptualizace barev v narativní fikci na pozadí kvantitativních modelů ([Conceptualisations of colours in narrative fiction on the background of quantitative models] Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého, 2019, 320 pp.), he summarised the distant reading of colour semantics in the fiction of the Czech writer Ján Čep (1902 – 1973). A close critical reading of Změlík’s research reveals strengths and weaknesses of the method he employed. Greatest attention is paid to developing supplementary conclusions regarding the reading of Čep’s book Modrá a zlatá [Blue and gold]. The collection of short stories works with specific colour semantics and as such presents a challenge to the quantitative method employed by Změlík.

13

Authors: Ľubica Scmarcová

The article provides an interpretation of the educational publication Hviezdoveda, alebo Životopis Krutohlava, čo na Zemi, okolo Mesiaca a Slnka skúsil a čo o obežniciach, vlasaticiach, pôvode a konci sveta vedel [Star-science, or The biography of Headshaker: his travels on the Earth, around the Moon and the Sun, his knowledge of planets, comets, the beginning and the end of the world]. Gustáv Reuss (1818 – 1863) wrote the piece in 1856, but it was only published more than a century later, in 1984. The author drew on the tradition of tractates and educational and popularising texts of the Enlightenment phase of the Slovak National Awakening and attempted to present educational contents – information about the universe, especially the solar system – to the lay audience by means of an appealing narrative. The text is considered to be the first representative of the science fiction genre in Slovak literature, but fantasy elements do not form a coherent layer in it. In a sober Enlightenment spirit, Reuss accentuates rationalism (even scepticism) in his work. At the same time, he is ironic towards the fabricated national ideal of the engaged Romantic nationalists and the messianic conception of the Slavic predestination according to which all temporal and spatial obstacles can be overcome by all-embracing pan-spirituality. Owing to these elements, Reuss’s authorial strategy gains the air of Romantic irony.

26

Authors: Martin Braxatoris

The article focuses on the structure and functions of the myth of the Hussite origin of (a part of) Slovak protestants. The narrative, based on claims of late Middle Ages historians, started gaining momentum in the 18th century and fully developed in the 19th century literary production (especially in the works of Pavol Jozef Šafárik, Samuel Tomášik, several representatives of Romanticism and, later, in the writing of Ladislav Pauliny and Július Botto). During the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries, its elements were dismantled on historical, linguistic, architectural and liturgical grounds. Those who contributed to the deconstruction of the myth included František Palacký, Jan Koula, Emil Edgar-Kratochvíl, Pavol Križko or Jozef Škultéty. The work of Branislav Varsik marked a significant break in the dismantling of the fictitious origins of Slovak protestant community. Once the mythological character of the narrative was revealed, it became accessible to analysis from the point of view of mythology, poetics and rituals. Its structure contains such features as separation phase, mythical trials, death, revival and gaining the prize – mythical wedding and settling in the “promised” land. The narrative helps form and maintain a new collective identity: it is invested with explanatory and consecrating functions and serves as a legitimising argument for the identity, religious rituals and cultural customs of the protestant community.