The comprehensive study of Ján Gavura, a young literary scientist and lecturer at the University of Prešov, of the development paths of the most significant representatives of post-war poetry in Slovakia, has been complemented by several texts, review, as well as an excerpt from an academic monograph, dealing with the opus, that is, the life and literary development of our selected authors. In this regard, for instance, the excerpt from Zvonko Taneski’s monograph dedicated to the work of Ján Ondruš also functions as an additional explanation to his poetics: the author himself in his later creative stage revised some of his earlier poems so that one poem in fact has several versions. Blesok readers may also notice thereof: the Macedonian translation presents the versions separately and completely, whereas the English translation of Ján Ondruš’ several poems is “their mixture/ union” in one whole. The other two reviews aim to familiarize Macedonian readers with the works of two contemporary Slovak authors whose books have recently been published in Serbian and Slovenian translation. We should also note that, ultimately, all the authors in our selection have been or still are regular authors for the Romboid magazine; they have collaborated with it or published there for years – pieces of their creative self-realization – that is, publish to this day.
The Vlna review, published quarterly, has helped us not merely with the essays on interesting artistic activities from our past and present, but also with the rich photo-documentary material and three music recordings; their authors and performers are presented with separate short profiles. We are also offering several Internet links with additional information on the protagonists from the Vlna selection, as well as with other numbers from the music production.
The whole team of Blesok deserves our thanks for this rare presentation opportunity, especially our friend and partner (the only long-haired one) Igor Isakovski, as well as poet and literary scientist Zvonko Taneski himself, whose exclusive interest in the Slovak literary scene has began to give its first results – in translations too.
The two publications (the print one in Slovakia, and the electronic in Macedonia) I have mentioned in this brief “dedication to the path” have originated within the Review within Review international project, coordinated out of Ljubljana in Slovenia, which nowadays unites sixteen magazines from thirteen countries in, primarily, Central and South-Eastern Europe, but also Austria, Italy, Lithuania, and Great Britain. In fact, apart from their respective boards of editors, the two selections were also supported by the International Visegrad Fund as part of the Review within Review Project in the Focus of Visegrad + (RwR in V+).
And finally, I would like this mutual step to have more than mere symbolic or one-time purpose and allow the international scene gradually gain insight into what is best and most vital of both of our (as well as other) partner literatures and cultures. These sorts of unions are always a contribution, and in times of global economic strategies and neoliberal policies, they also counterbalance the barbarity of the new age.
Therefore: literature and culture, therefore, as unwanted weeds in the gardens of cultivated, and even encouraged listlessness, of poorly disguised humiliation of complacent consumers… as a touch beneath the earth, in the “roots of invisibility” or as eruption of vitality.
Or: a “related” cultural underground where above the surface the ever so tousled golden calf keeps winning.
18th May 2010
Translated into English by Kalina Janeva