The intertextual aspect of the Faustian theme in 19th-century Slovak and Czech literature: Jonáš Záborský, Šebestián Hněvkovský, and the categories of “national” vs. “world”
The intertextual aspect of the Faustian theme in 19th-century Slovak and Czech literature: Jonáš Záborský, Šebestián Hněvkovský, and the categories of “national” vs. “world”

Summary/Abstract: The study attempts to identify the “interliterary network” of the post-Romantic period from the perspective of “small national literatures” through an analysis of two Central European texts: Faustiáda (1864) by the Slovak writer Jonáš Záborský and Doktor Faust (1844) by the Czech writer Šebestián Hněvkovský. Although in the history of their respective literatures, both texts rank among the classics, they have been seen as “antiquary relicts” because of their genre hybridization, literary-orientational interference, and parallel coexistence of two different poetics within individual texts. The works belong to the genre of “Faustiads” whose purpose is to demythicize and desacralize the Faustian theme. The parodical-humorous form or didactically patriotic presentation enables them to cope with the historical philosophy of their nations. The interliterary interpretation of these works results in the transformation of fixed negative reflections in the literary discourse and in the confirmation of the diversity of the Central European post-Romantic tradition.

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