Slovak Literature in English Translation

Pavel Vilikovský (1941–2020) was one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Slovak literature, both domestically and internationally. A member of a strong generation of writers that emerged in the 1960s, fundamentally transforming Slovak fiction, he really came to the fore only after 1989, when he was able to publish without the compromises and constraints of communist censorship. His inimitable gifts of observation and ability to find the artistically effective in apparently mundane everyday life are the hallmarks of his highly acclaimed literary works, which have acquired the status of modern classics. Vilikovský’s Večne je zelený…, 1989 (Ever Green Is…, 2002) has been hailed as a postmodernist masterpiece, and his recent works such as Pes na ceste, 2010 (Dog on the Road), Vlastný životopis zla, 2009 (The Autobiography of Evil), and Letmý sneh, 2014 (Fleeting Snow, 2018) have been praised for their caustic wit, characteristic Central European melancholy but, above all, Vilikovský’s brilliant, clear and dangerously precise language. He is the only author to be twice awarded Slovakia’s most prestigious literary prize, the Anasoft Litera, for which his last work, RAJc je preč, 2018 (The Thrill Is Gone) was also shortlisted.