KOREŠPONDENCIA JÁNA KOLLÁRA AKO TEXTOLOGICKÝ PROBLÉM

Ján Kollár´s letters was a text analysis project which the editor Jozef Ambruš (1914 – 1993) had begun to prepare as early as the beginning of the 1970s. The first volume was published as a book in the year 1991. After Ambruš´s death the responsibility to finish it was taken over by Augustín Maťovčík from Slovak National Library in Martin, who himself extended and partly checked the materials left by J. Ambruš. Then in the year 2008 he contacted The Institute of Slovak Literature, Slovak Academy of Sciences and offered them cooperation on preparing the edition. The project Listy Jána Kollára II. – III. (Ján Kollár´s Letters II - III) (the edition preparation phase) has been carried out since 2010. Its purpose is to process the already prepared materials, verify and complete them, and finalize their editing, of course, with regard to the current state of knowledge of Ján Kollár´s life and work. In line with the original concept of Jozef Ambruš´s it will involve text analysis and editing of two volumes: the letters of the years 1840 – 1844 (about 140 units, vol. 2) and the letters of the years 1845 – 1852 (about 100 units, vol. 3). The edited letters repeatedly give evidence of Kollár´s wide correspondence contacts with refugees as well as politicians from various Slavic nations. This is the area which provides space to further research of Slovak-Slavic cultural and literary relations in the 19th century.