O zajkovi a medveďovi: k problematike tematického vymedzenia politickej anekdoty

The contribution is devoted to the delimitation of the political anecdote and the joke. In the introduction, it Publisher an overview of the Slovakian and Czech literature, and a brief overview of the world literature. Based on the concept of Umberto Eco´s over-interpretation shows that the content as a basic identification symbol constitutes often an insufficient criterion. Therefore, the limits of the political anecdote are searched in other properties of the Slovakian prosaic folklore and anecdote as an independent genre. The author defines the above based on the political and social conditionality of the period, in which the anecdote was and is living, as well as based on its bearer, performance, function and other features. She highlights the problematic or unclear limits for the definitiv of the monitored phenomenon in respect to the period and its character. As an example, she uses materials from the period of the real socialism in Czechoslovakia as well as those from the present age, which have been collected in the field research to a dissertation thesis. She sets the anecdotes beside each other, pointing to thein common and different properties, their place in the society and their different or same perception.