Poézia Jozefa Mihalkoviča (Zimoviská)
Poetry of Jozef Mihalkovič (Zimoviska)

Summary/Abstract: The reflection on the poetry by Jozef Mihalkovič interprets his key collection titled Zimoviská (“Winter Quarters”, 1965). An important thematic complex of Zimoviská are partner relations between a husband and wife, between a young couple – the lyrical male subject and his partner and partners in the circle of friends from work, acquaintances and family. Within the peripeties of partner relations situations of tension are exposed in particular, as well as the growing of love frustration into the existential one, crises lived through with difficulty, mutual attempts at overcoming tension and the restoration of trust. Verses on the overcoming of the tension between the partners are distinct and impressive. The epic base draws attention to the protagonists, to their stories in particular stages in life. A large number of characters manifests the author’s sociability. Creative submersions into the folk culture of the Little Carpathian region, especially into the vernacular language with its phraseology, in which the folk experience is concentrated, are noteworthy. However, in Zimoviská this region is presented multidimensionally, poems are connected to a particular space with a particular topography and with particular environment. The world of the past Slovak culture, including also the culture of the relations among people, their relation to work, to the soil, to nature, to the country that does not lack memory, and last but not least to the language, is reflected in the collection. Zimoviská is characterized by a permanent innovative expressive effort on multiple levels. Its characteristic is an avant-garde or neo-avant-garde non-linear construction. The poem emerges from a free montage or associatively linked individual or relatively independent varied thematic segments.

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