Studia Slavica
Volume/Issue:
Volume 69: Issue 1
Between paternalism and colonialism: Czechs and Slovaks from the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century
Author:
Jana Pátková Institute of Ethnology, Central European and Balkan Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

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Pages:
79–90
Online Publication Date:
07 Nov 2024
Publication Date:
06 Feb 2025
Article Category:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/060.2024.00157
Keywords:
postcolonial theories; paternalism; colonialism; orientalism; Slovak literature; Czech literature; Czech-Slovak relations; national identity
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The study focuses on the postcolonial analysis of the development of mutual Czech-Slovak relations from the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century. The core of the analysis are specific literary representations of these mutual relationships based on the textual corpus of Czech and Slovak literature. In the broader public discourse of Central European literature, Czech-Slovak relations are only rarely analysed using postcolonial criticism. In the field of literary science, this is an unexplored area of Czech-Slovak relations. The contribution therefore seeks to complement postcolonial research on the material of Czech and Slovak non-fiction texts, as well as neglected novels. It focuses on the postcolonial analysis of literary representations of mutual Czech-Slovak relations, which developed between paternalism and colonialism in the observed period. The critical reading of these literary representations is based on the description of power relations identifiable through more or less conspicuous features of superiority and subordination, which are relevant to interpret through postcolonial theories. The author of the paper is aware of the specifics and differences of power relations between small cultures in the Central European area compared to the analysis of relations between a large empire and a politically subordinate colonial culture. For this reason, he expands the repertoire of terminology from postcolonial criticism (Homi H. Bhabha and Edward W. Said) and uses not only the basic terms colonialism and Orientalism, but also other terms to define the diverse scale of the power relationship of the Czechs to Slovak culture, e.g. paternalism (to introduce the Czech figure of the elder brother), pre-colonialism (to introduce the Czech figure of the savior) and anticolonialism (to introduce the Czech figure of the Slovaks as victims). Using postcolonial terminology, the study approaches specific literary figures that have become part of Czech thinking about Slovak culture. The situation of Slovak culture in the observed period can be interpreted through Kiossev’s metaphor of self-colonization, which reflects the positive reception of the cultural and educational mission of the Czechs in Slovakia. The used corpus of texts from Czech and Slovak literature and its analysis served as a starting point for understanding cultural stereotypes and literary representations of nascent national identities. Czech colonialism developed in the political, cultural and linguistic framework, first as a recognition of Slovakia by Czech slovakophiles, after 1918 it was already part of the discussion in the public space. All these period attitudes of the Czechs towards Slovakia were prescribed in literary texts of a fictional and non-fictional nature and as part of the Czech cultural memory they filled the Czech cultural myth about Slovakia.

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Cover Studia Slavica
Studia Slavica
Print ISSN:
0039-3363
Online ISSN:
1588-290X

Senior editors

Editor-in-Chief: Róbert KISS SZEMÁN (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HU)

Editorial Board

  • Krisztina MENYHÁRT (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HU)
  • Péter PÁTROVICS (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HU)
  • Kata JURACSEK (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HU)

Secretary of the Board

  • Sarolta TÓTHPÁL ((Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HU)

Advisory Board

  • Krasimira ALEKSOVA (Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, BG)
  • Dalibor DOBIÁŠ (Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ)
  • Joanna GOSZCZIYŃSKA (University of Warsaw, PL)
  • Mária GYÖNGYÖSI (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HU)
  • László JÁSZAY (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HU)
  • Marko JESENŠEK (University of Maribor, SLO)
  • Mihály KOCSIS (University of Szeged, HU)
  • Katalin KROÓ (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HU)
  • Stefan Michael NEWERKLA (University of Vienna, A)
  • Ivana TARANENKOVÁ (Slovak Academy of Sciences, SK)
  • Dalibor TUREČEK (University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, CZ)
  • Slobodanka Millicent VLADIV-GLOVER (Monash University, Clayton Campus, AUS)
  • Kazimierz WOLNY-ZMORZYŃSKI (University of Silesia in Katowice, PL)
  • András ZOLTÁN (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HU)

 

Sarolta TÓTHPÁL (Secretary of the board)
Institute of Slavonic and Baltic Philology
Eötvös Loránd University
H-1088 Budapest, Hungary
Phone: (+36-1)411-6500 ext. 5253
E-mail: studiasl@btk.elte.hu

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Studia Slavica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Language Slavic languages
English
French
German
Size B5
Year of
Foundation		 1955
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Issues
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Founder Akadémiai Kiadó
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ISSN 0039-3363 (Print)
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