JESENSKÝ BÁSNIK: OD ROMANTIZMU KU KLASICIZMU

• Authors: Valér Mikula

Title variants

EN

Jesenský the poet: from Romanticism to Classicism

• Languages of publication: SK

Abstracts

EN

Jesenský as a poet (as well as a prose writer) cannot be interpreted only through his works of art. They form a part of the whole of his personality as a sign. Jesenský strictly distinguishes between the public and the private spheres. The public sphere, which includes his prose as well as poetry, is dominated by conventions, the „surface“, while the area of his privacy hides real contents – and those are characterized by „classical“ qualities such as sincerity, kindness, honour, moderateness, non-ostentatiousness, nobility. This inner aristocracy is outwardly made light of, which is done in two ways: it is either minimized (downplayed) or wildly exaggerated. If socializing involves light chit-chat, Jesenský develops it to perfection. He also highlights the conventions of poetry, both the folk or Romantic ones as well as the Modernist-Decadent ones. The perfected style is his mode of existence, which he only gives up at genuine existential moments: when he experiences a deep love and writes about it in his letters, when he deserts to join the Russian army (which involved a risk of death) during the First World War, when he engages in Anti-Fascist movement as a poet. The fundamental life situations make him overlook the convention, and follow his deepest principles, which are not far from the Enlightenment ideal of man (he was also a member of Freemasonry). In all other situations, he follows conventions, which he does in a suspiciously light-hearted manner. The suspicion, however, does not change Jesenský, it changes the conventions.

Keywords

EN

JESENSKÝ JANKO; ROMANTICISM; POST-ROMANTICISM; NEO-CLASSICISM; POET; POETRY

• Publisher: Institute of Slovak Literature, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Slovenská literatúra (Slovak Literature)
• Year: 2012
• Volume: 59
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 457 – 468

Contributors

author

Valér Mikula

• Ústav slovenskej literatúry SAV, Konventná 13, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic