Title in original language: Peripetie problému „slovenskej otázky“ na stránkach časopisov Elán a Přítomnost
Author: Karol Csiba
Title in English: The “Slovak question” on the pages of the magazines Elán and Přítomnost
Journal: Česko-slovenská historická ročenka 24, 2, 2022, pp. 77-92
Abstract: This study offers a look at a selection of discussions and polemics published in the socio-cultural periodicals Elán and Přítomnost in Prague during the interwar period. The basis of the text is a reconstruction of materials made against the background of the search for and definition of Czech-Slovak social and literary relations that characterized the period and to a great extent shaped the social situation in the newly founded Czechoslovakia. Both periodicals capture this period of Czechoslovakia’s development, in which efforts to outline the national question played an important role. This text openly adopts a narrative structure, which is why the journalistic articles are ordered and their content is reconstructed chronologically. I strive, above all, to provide ample material. Its evaluation is directed towards an informed reader. The paper also touches upon the question of to what extent the editorial practice of the periodicals contributed to the formation of modern society in newly founded Czechoslovakia. On the margin, it thus seeks to identify the place of Elán and Přítomnost in the study of the history of modernity. In this context, the paper also briefly discusses the crises of modern art characteristic of the interwar period. The crises include the crisis of the “old” society, associated with the success of the avant-gardes. For this reason, the paper tries to go beyond the narrow territory of literature and implicitly notes the role of the intellectuals who, in the selected periodicals, engage in struggles and aesthetic, ethical, ideological and confessional arguments.