DEMONISM AND CIVILISM (Demonizmus a civilizmus)

The term 'demonism' in the history of Slovak literature usually concerns traditional opposition between city and village (literary naturism). The study shows different dimension of that theme, which grew from 'demonism' of the world behind the 'iron curtain'. It deals with conscious appearance of new generation of writers in the second half of 50s (Anton Hykisch, Jaroslava Blazkova, Jozef Kot) and problems of prohibition (auto-censorship and censorship), introducing the level of life facts and empiric experiences through an alternative genre of fine reportage (Ladislav Mnacko, Roman Kalisky, Dominik Tatarka, Alfonz Bednar). Impulses of everyday life, little civil stories, although civilism itself did not represent an aesthetic value, were developed artistically in the 60s, mainly in the literary works by Jan Johanides and in the works of following author generation of fiction. Experimentation with artistic material opened new dimensions of reality. The study applies the terminology of Vladimir Petrik (Generation movements in literature of the second half of 50s, 1975), who used contemporary terms, names of contemporary 'demons' and who discerned reliably ideological and aesthetic criteria.