Slovak Literature in English Translation

Ján Hollý (1785–1849) was a poet, translator, and Catholic priest. The first writer to use Slovak as a literary language, he is regarded as the founding father of Slovak poetry. Born in Borský, Hollý studied in Skalica, Bratislava, and Trnava before settling in Madunice near Piešťany, where he served as a priest.  Hollý was actively involved in the National Revival movement and used his epic works – arguably his most important contribution to Slovak literature – to inspire the nation. He also wrote lyric poetry, and translated Virgil, Ovid, Theocritus, Homer, Horace, and other Greek and Latin poets. Hollý wrote in Bernolákovčina, an early form of the modern literary Slovak language, developed by Anton Bernolák and based on the western Slovak dialects. While much of Hollý’s work was composed along neoclassical lines, his importance for the ideological development of Slovakia as a nation as well as his forays into the then-popular movement of Pan-Slavism, ensure for him a preeminent place amongst the great European Romantics.