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AGAINST PROGRESS: UTOPIA, IDYLL, NOSTALGIA AND MELANCHOLY. (NATIONAL IDENTITY AND MODERNITY IN SLOVAK LITERATURE, 1880-1900)! —o> — IVANA TARANENKOVA ABSTRACT This paper deals with the relationship of Slovak literature to Modernity in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, which was based on denial. The Slovak culture of this period was still under the influence of the ongoing National Revival, which began in the early years of the nineteenth century and accelerated in the 1840s. This influence is mainly visible in contemporary literature, since this continued to be seen (as in the previous period) as the main vehicle for the articulation of national identity. On the other hand, what is evident in these decades is a confrontation between outstanding figures of Slovak literature (such as Svetozär Hurban Vajansky, Pavol Orszagh Hviezdoslav and Martin Kukucin) and the modern culture that was in the course of formation. The paper explores several aspects of these attitudes from an ideological, aesthetic and anthropological angle. In the first place, we can speak of an explicit animosity: Modernity, with its emphasis on individualism and heterogeneity, is perceived as a threat to the fragile identity of the nascent Slovak nation. The response to this threat was a utopian vision of the nation’s future that was apparent in not only its conception of Slovak culture but also manifested in most of the novels of this period. This attitude to Modernity was evident in the work of the “national leader” Vajansky, a poet and novelist as well as a literary critic, who left his imprint on Slovak literature for several decades. Second, the response to Modernity in terms of aesthetics was a nostalgic desire for the classical ideal of art, defined as the unity of Beauty, Goodness and Truth (as seen in the poetry of Hviezdoslav as well as the novels 1 This study is the outcome of grant project VEGA 2/0025/16 Textové figuracie slovenskej literatüry 19. storocia (Textual Figurations of Nineteenth-century Slovak Literature), principal researcher Ivana Taranenkova. + 429 +
