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• A Witness of the Era: A New Biography of Slovak Writer Pavol Strauss (1912–1994): Ivan A. Petranský: Pavol Strauss a jeho 20. storočie [Pavol Strauss and his 20th century]. Bratislava, Marenčin PT, 2025, 572 p. ISBN: 978-80-5569-1379-6

  Bogusław Bakuła

  Views:

  72

  Petranský’s book Pavol Strauss a jeho 20. storočie [Pavol Strauss and his 20th century] is a comprehensive biography of the eminent Slovak poet Pavol Strauss (1912–1994), an essayist and aphorist who had been associated with Catholic literary circles since 1946. Pavol Strauss came from a Jewish, intellectual family. From his childhood, he showed an aptitude for literature and music. In the 1930s, he completed his medical studies at a German university in Prague, where he also made his literary debut with two volumes of poetry in German. Before the World War II, he returned to Slovakia, where he began working as a doctor. In the early 1940s, he was baptised into the Catholic faith, which may have saved him from the Holocaust, and in the mid-1940s he began writing in Slovak. He chose to become a Slovak writer, combining literature with his work as a surgeon in hospitals.
  In the late 1940s, he was persecuted by the security services. He was subject to a ban on publication in Slovakia for almost the rest of his life. He published sporadically in Slovak Catholic publications and in Rome. Despite the repression, he continued to write and became increasingly respected within literary circles. In the 1970s and 1980s, he also became involved in the Catholic samizdat movement.
  Petranský’s biography draws on numerous previously unknown sources, including material from family archives, the security services’ archives, and the Vatican archives. Petranský paints a highly detailed picture of the era of totalitarianism and the situation of a man living by moral principles that remained unshaken by the tragic events of the time. The portrait of the life of this poet and essayist, whose work was only recognised after his death, is also a portrait of Slovakia’s post-war history. Strauss began his life as a citizen of Austria–Hungary and ended it as a citizen of independent Slovakia. He witnessed great historical changes and bore witness to them in his work. Today, he ranks among the most outstanding Slovak writers associated with the Catholic movement.

• Teffi as a Person and Woman Writer: A View from Overseas

  6 p.

  Natalia Prusakova

  Views:

  376

  This review describes the conceptual and content side of the book by an American specialist Edith Haber on the life and work of Teffi (1872-1952). This is the only monograph on Teffi in the world. In the review a subtle combination of historical method and literary criticism is noted. The biography of an outstanding person and a talented woman writer is reconstructed against a well-known historical background – three Russian revolutions, two world wars and the first wave of Russian emigration. Special attention is paid to the E. Haber`s analysis of evolution in Teffi`s writing. The characters and plots were changed, the author’s tone and part were altered. The book is praised for its uniqueness and the author – for her high professionalism.

• Mysterious Artist with a Movie Camera - Александр Риганов:«Тиссэ. Оператор Эйзенштейна», Санкт-Петербург: Издательство «Сеанс»,2020. ISBN 978-5-6042795-1-9, 384 pp.

  Ferenc Debreceni

  Views:

  290

  This review is a content and critical review of Alexander Riganov’s book on Soviet cinematographer Eduard Tisse (1897-1961), Tisse: Eisenstein’s cameraman, which was the first monograph of its kind published in Russian. The book follows the life of the first Soviet cameraman in chronological order from birth until his last days, with the author overviewingrelevant historic and cinematographic events throughout. Thus, there are three major stories in Riganov’s book: the life and artistic path of an artist, the history of a country, and the golden age of cinematography. Several unique archival documents, e.g. letters, diary segments, photographs etc., were first published in this book. The book’s author paid special attention to Tisse’s and Eisenstein’s joint works. The uniqueness and high professional standard of Riganov’s book makes it a piece of art worthy of attention.

• The Function of the „Author’s Mask” in “The Soul of a Patriot or Various Epistles to Ferfichkin” by Yevgeni Popov

  Annamária Vass

  Views:

  350

  Playing with the author’s figure is not a new device in Postmodernism. One may refer to “Either/Or” by Søren Kierkegaard or “The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin” by Alexander Pushkin, or “The Fiery Angel” by Valery Bryusov. At the same time the foreword of “The soul of a patriot or Various epistles to Ferfichkin” proves that in Postmodernism this game is taken to the next level. The author who abandoned their fictional space and renounced theirauthorial role during Modernism returns and re-takes their formal place. However, he does not do it seriously but hiding behind the mask of the author – says Malmgren, introducing the term of the author’s maskinto literary discourse. In this analysis I state that Popov, using the author’s mask, turns the traditional interpretationof the author’s role inside out.  I conclude that, on the one hand, the author’s mask ridicules the concept by which the author’s biography is the key to his work. On the other hand, it makes fun of Vinogradov’s view, according to which there is always an abstract author hiding in the text who carries its real meaning. I come to the conclusion, that Popov uses this narrative technique to emphasise that it is impossible to look at a literary work as an arsenal of ultimate truths and statements.