The Future of the Slovak Nation in the Dystopias of the Realist Era (Terézia Vansová and Martin Kukučín)

The article examines little-known texts from the late 19th century by Slovak writers Terézia Vansová and Martin Kukučín, which stand out from the entire corpus of Slovak realistic works of that period and are the first examples of the genre of dystopia and fantasy in Slovak literature. In addition to their genre originality, T. Vansová’s short story «2888» (1887) and M. Kukučín’s unfinished novella «Taurus» (c. 1895–98) are united by their ideological and thematic focus: both authors harshly criticize the Slovak national-patriotic movement of the 1880s–90s, in particular the «Martinites» of S.G. Vajanský, J. Škultéty, and others, accusing them of idealism, indecisiveness, and disunity. The main problem of Slovak society, according to both writers, is the lack of unity and cohesion, which can lead the entire Slovak nation to the most tragic consequences – to its complete destruction, which we see in the analyzed anti-utopian works. Against the background of the works of other Slovak realists of the so-called «first wave», who often demonstrate the idealization of Slovak reality and even some utopianism, the texts of T. Vansová and M. Kukučín stand out for their incriminating pathos and give us rich material for reflection both on the features and diversity of Slovak realism and on the origins of Slovak science fiction literature.