„Človeče, sebe nežiješ, ži ako chceš, ale sebe nežiješ...“ K melanchólii Mikuláša Dohnányho
„Man, you do not live for yourself, live however you want, you do not live for yourself, though...“ On Mikuláš Dohnány´s Melancholy

Summary/Abstract: The paper outlines one of the forms of melancholy in the literary discourse of Slovakromanticism. As regards materials, it is based on egodocuments by Mikuláš Dohnány(1824 – 1852), in particular his diaries (1850 – 1852) and correspondence (1839 – 1852), asregards research, it is focused on the conflict between the latent (melancholy) and manifested(heroic and messianic) lines of the author´s production. The antagonism betweenthe ideal and the reality forms the basis for M. Dohnány´s life experience and it is alsonoticeable in his intimate diary records. The subject of the analysis is the performativeand functional nature of Dohnány´s diaries, which feature so-called self-discipliningcomments prompting the author to take action, to make a difference. Dohnány´s melancholy,which has several romantic characteristics (it is based on negation, inwardoriented, attached to the „inner self ”), remains hidden thanks to them and is subjectto the self-control mechanism as it does not correspond with the ideal of a „ braveŠtúr´s follower“, which Dohnány kept trying to put into practice.

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