„ČLOVEČE, SEBE NEŽIJEŠ, ŽI AKO CHCEŠ, ALE SEBE NEŽIJEŠ...“ K MELANCHÓLII MIKULÁŠA DOHNÁNYHO

• Authors: Bystrzak Magdalena

Title variants

EN

„Man, you do not live for yourself, live however you want, you do not live for yourself, though...“ On Mikuláš Dohnány´s melancholy

• Languages of publication: SK

Abstracts

EN

The paper outlines one of the forms of melancholy in the literary discourse of Slovak romanticism. As regards materials, it is based on ego documents by Mikuláš Dohnány (1824 – 1852), in particular his diaries (1850 – 1852) and correspondence (1839 – 1852), as regards research, it is focused on the conflict between the latent (melancholy) and manifested (heroic and messianic) lines of the author´s production. The antagonism between the ideal and the reality forms the basis for M. Dohnány´s life experience and it is also noticeable in his intimate diary records. The subject of the analysis is the performative and functional nature of Dohnány´s diaries, which feature so-called self-disciplining comments prompting the author to take action, to make a difference. Dohnány´s melancholy, which has several romantic characteristics (it is based on negation, inward oriented, attached to the „inner self ”), remains hidden thanks to them and is subject to the self-control mechanism as it does not correspond with the ideal of a „ brave Štúr´s follower“, which Dohnány kept trying to put into practice.

Keywords

EN

DOHNÁNY MIKULÁŠ; MELANCHOLY; DIARY; ROMANTICISM; AUTOBIOGRAPHY

• Publisher: Institute of Slovak Literature, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Slovenská literatúra (Slovak Literature)
• Year: 2019
• Volume: 66
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 430 – 440

Contributors

author

Bystrzak Magdalena

• Ústav slovenskej literatúry SAV, Dúbravská cesta 9, 841 05 Bratislava, Slovak Republic