“In Line with” and “Against the Current”: Changes in Ideological and Artistic Focus in Dominik Tatarka’s Works

Abstract

The Slovak writer Dominic Tatarka has been working for more than forty years, and his writings fully reflect the dramatic shifts both in his personal life and that of the country as a whole. Tatarka has written in many genres. He started with existentialist and surrealist novellas (“The gloom of searching”, 1942; “The lady enchantress”, 1944), moving on to a socio-psychological novel (“The parish republic”, 1948), which reflected the author’s own experience during the war. His novels on the formation of the new man were written according to the canons of socialist realism (“The first and second strikes” (1950), “The day of joy” (1954), “The friendship years” (1954)). The 1956 satirical pamphlet “The demon of agreement” clearly showed the author’s political disillusionment. In the “Endless conversations” (1959) and “Wicker chairs” (1963) novellas, Tatarka returned to the examination of complex spiritual issues, reexamining his personal emotional experience. From mid-1960s onwards the writer mostly wrote non-fiction works, focusing on the issues of national identity and culture. After the events of 1968, Tatarka was excluded from public and intellectual life. His later works, “Bad Weather” (1978), “Notes” (1984), “One against the night” (1984), “Letters to eternity” (1988), “Records with Dominic Tatarka” (2000), “Letters to beloved Lutetia” (2013) were written as essays, employing inner monologue, dialogues with imaginary or real characters, reminiscences, political reflections and erotic sensations.