Home and the World in Slovak Writing or How to get the literature of a small nation to the world

On 4 March 2025, the unique English-language scholarly publication Home and the World in Slovak Writing. A Small Nation’s Literature in Context goes on sale. It was written under the direction of the editorial trio of Katarina Gephardt, Ivana Taranenková and Charles Sabatos, who have collaborated with local and international Slovak and Slavic scholars. A significant contribution to the publication was made by the staff of the Institute of Slovak Literature of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

“This collective monograph presents a comprehensive picture of Slovak literature to the English-speaking audience, placing it in global contexts and entering into dialogue with the international scholarly community. Since the publication of History of Slovak Literature (Peter Petro) in 1997, this is the first work of this kind, and therefore it is of great importance for the representation of our culture,” said Ivana Taranenková, co-editor of the book.

Literatures of small nations represent a minuscule portion of the global literary marketplace, but this publication demonstrates how a nation’s literature can survive and thrive despite a small domestic audience and relatively limited circulation in the global, Anglophone marketplace.

The publication comes after several years of work by a team of scientists at the renowned Canadian publishing house McGill-Queen’s University Press. The book demonstrates how historic events such as the post-Stalin Thaw, the Prague Spring, and the Velvet Revolution moulded the Slovak canon and at the same time brings a new perspective on Slovak literature after 1989, contributes to the knowledge within literary Slovak studies and adapts the interpretation of the issue to a global scientific audience.

 

CONTENT:
Foreword: Slovak Literature and Central Europe
Daniel W. Pratt
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Katarina Gephardt, Charles Sabatos, and Ivana Taranenková
1 Slovak Literature and the Post-Stalin Liberalization, 1956–70
Rajendra A. Chitnis
2 Literature of the Transition: Between Neo-modernism and Postmodernism
Peter Darovec
3 Writing the Self from Autobiography to Autofiction
Ivana Taranenková
4 History and Memory: Rewriting the Past
Zora Prušková
5 Poetry and Social Engagement
Viliam Nádaskay
6 Subversion and Experimentation in Contemporary Poetry
Ivana Hostová
7 Regional Writing and National Identity in the Borderlands
Radoslav Passia
8 Expatriate and Cosmopolitan Writing
Tamara Janecová
9 Women’s Writing and Social Change
Rafał Majerek
coda | translators and translations
Translating Politics and the Politics of Translation
Magdalena Mullek
An Interview with Translator Julia Sherwood
Prepared by Katarina Gephardt
Appendix | Selected Bibliography of Slovak Literature
in English Translation
Compiled by Charles Sabatos and Ivana Hostová
Contributors
Index