Dedication to the Path

/, Literature, Blesok no. 74/Dedication to the Path

Dedication to the Path

It all actually began in Slovakia: in February of 2010 the special edition of the Romboid literary monthly came out, dedicated to Macedonian literature and its reflection, in which we presented eleven Macedonian authors as recommended by the Blesok online magazine board of editors: Aleksandra Dimitrova, Lidija Dimkovska, Katica Kjulavkova, Igor Isakovski, Jovica Ivanovski, Stevo Simski, Bogomil Gjuzel, Jasna Koteska, Elizabeta Bakovska, Rumena Bužarovska, and Zvonko Taneski. The Romboid magazine has been published since 1965, and its current publisher is the Association of Writers’ Organizations in Slovakia.
And now the shoe is on the other foot. We have prepared for Blesok an expert selection of Slovak literature and culture, the making of which was, naturally, influenced by two factors: the bilingual edition of Blesok in Macedonian and English, as well as the broader interest of the Macedonian online magazine for other art forms. So, I have called for help two other magazines: the Slovak Literary Review, published biannually by the Literature Information Centre of Bratislava for its own promotional purposes (editor-in-chief is Daniela Humajová), presenting Slovak literature translated in foreign languages; as well as the magazine Vlna (Wave) published since 1999 and propagating the “young, innovative and experimental culture in Slovakia and the world”, edited by Peter Šulej and Petra Fornayová. From the former magazine we have made use of all literary translations into English, and from the latter – the texts in which we offer Macedonian readers a tip of the enormous iceberg of fine-arts, film and musical events in Slovakia.
Regarding the selection itself of literary texts for Blesok, this would hopefully suffice. With the poetry fund we are presenting works of a broad generational spectrum, beginning with poet Ivan Kupec who drew attention to himself with his surrealist poetics, through Ján Ondruš – the prominent representative of the Concretist group of poets, that is, the Trnava group, with their extraordinary, suggestively expressive metaphors, all the way to our recently departed Viera Prokešová, translator of literature, from Macedonian as well, member of the poetic generation of “free-lancers” established primarily in the 1980s and representing the strong (albeit troubled) middle generation of contemporary Slovak poetry. All three authors remained faithful to the poetic genre (should we disregard their essay work), and also proved to be excellent translators.
In the prose pool of authors we highlight writers who in their prose brought in the foreground the already covered free, or more specifically – market conditions in culture following the fall of Communism (after the so-called Velvet Revolution of 1989), even though the age difference between them is of a whole generation. Viliam Klimáček, the oldest among them, entered the field of literature as early as the 1980s as a poet. Nowadays, however, he exclusively writes prose, and is also dedicated to auteur theatre, as well as to film and television screenwriting. Ivan Kolenič is a multitalented author (and a “closet” painter), but nevertheless mostly recognized as poet – always extravagant and provocative enough to muddy the still waters of (un)critical minds. Jana Beňová also first appeared as a poet, but with her latest three books she has completely proven her prose predilection. With her relaxed view fierce on the “alienating forms of life” of the youth in the apartment complexes in Bratislava, she has intrigued not only literary critics, but the readership as well.

2018-08-21T17:22:53+00:00 September 8th, 2010|Categories: Essays, Literature, Blesok no. 74|0 Comments