Kasardove Dejiny menejcennosti ako transgresia a kontroverzia
Martin Kasarda’s The history of inferiority as transgression and controversy

Summary/Abstract: In the context of Slovak cultural history, the 1990s marked a transitional period characterized by radical transformations in values – also concerning the role of writers and the evolving social functions of literature. The cultural situation of the era can also be illustrated on the “Kasarda case” of 1991, which followed the magazine publication of the short story “(perhaps) Last supper” by Martin Kasarda (b. 1968). The publication of the text provoked a wave of resentment related to the blasphemous nature of the author’s paraphrase of the canonical biblical story. The article attempts a poetological and literary-historical contextualization of M. Kasarda’s first book, The history of inferiority (1994), where the author elaborated on the aesthetic foundations of the short story that sparked considerable controversy. My interpretation is grounded in the concept of transgression – the moment when a text is shaped by crossing boundaries set by canonized models and codes. The contradictory aesthetic principles employed by the author, reflective of the period, led to the debut’s cautious critical reception.

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