SLOVENSKÁ LITERATÚRA V LITERÁRNOHISTORICKÝCH PRÁCACH NAPÍSANÝCH PO MAĎARSKY (1867 – 1918)

The article concentrates on the image and reception of Slovak literature in specialised Hungarian-language texts from the period of Austro-Hungarian Compromise. In the history of Slovak-Hungarian relations, this period was one of the most complicated: the middle classes were being assimilated speedily and the Slovak culture was under intense pressure of the state and Hungarian culture. The first comprehensive publication on Slovak literature in this period was written by Imre Gáspár as early as in 1879, but it remained without much feedback. Subsequent articles and encyclopaedic entries were penned by Slovak authors who either worked in Budapest as civil servants (Samo Czambel, Adolf Pechány) or were based directly in Martin, Slovakia (Jozef Škultéty). Škultéty was invited to write on Slovak literature by the Budapest-based professor Oszkár Asbóth who also authored a journal article on Svetozár Hurban Vajanský. Despite differences in authors’ social and cultural backgrounds, the narrative texts share several similarities: in the introduction, they provide a general overview of the history of the Slovak language and literature and then deal with outer-literary aspects in the works of a few authors and looked for similarities. The works written by Ján Hollý and Andrej Sládkovič were held in especially high esteem.