P. O. Hviezdoslav a májové oslavy 1918 v Prahe. Česko-slovenská cesta ku kanonizácii cultural saints
P. O. Hviezdoslav and the 1918 May Day Celebrations in Prague. The Czech-Slovak way to canonise cultural saints

Summary/Abstract: Sourced even on hitherto unexplored contemporary materials, the paper analyses the impact of P. O. Hviezdoslav`s participation in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of laying the foundation stone of the National Theatre on 16th-18th May, 1918. It is methodologically grounded in the comparative-analytical model of the canonisation of cultural saints as outlined by J. Leerssen and M. Dović (J. K. Helgason – M. Dović: National Poets, Cultural Saints: Canonization and Commemorative Cults of Writers in Europe, 2017). Our study uses Hviezdoslav`s visit to follow the transfer of his works and personality from the secluded microcosm of intellectual elites into the public macrocosm of the future state community. The poet`s transformation into a cultural saint, facilitated among others by his address to Czech and Slovak extra-literary recipients at the celebrations, signified his approval for the ideology of Czechoslovakism. The historic importance of this visit to Prague consisted namely in the fact that it was the first public acceptance of the envisaged integration into a common state.

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