Childhood memory as “Natural memory” in poems by the Slovak author Ján Stacho
Authors: DIMOVA Irena 
Published: April 2023

Background: Ján Stacho is an eminent Slovak author (1936–1995) who first has published in 1959. Two years later he became member of the so-called Trnava group, made up of him, Ján Ondruš, Jozef Mihalkovič and Ľubomír Feldek. The group’s poet-ics and aesthetics can be found in their manifestos – “There will be a talk about chil-dren's poetry”, “There will be a talk about translation” and “There will be a talk about poetry”, the last of which is lost. Ján Ondruš’s debut book “Wedding Journey“ was first published in 1961. His poems and one of the group’s literary manifestos are the subject of the present study. Purpose: The article examines the idea of childhood memory as “natural memory”. The concept is found in the poetry of Ján Ondruš, who is part of the Slovak poetry Trnava group. His poems serve the purpose of the article – to look at the realizations of the concretists’ theoretical views in the poems of the author mentioned above. Results: The article outlines the concept of memory, which we find in the aesthetic platform of the Slovak Trnava group, specifically in their manifesto “There will be a talk about children's literature.” In this text, the authors plead for writing poetry that is not “sucked from the finger” but is “squeezed” from memory. We deduce the “uses” of memory from the texts of one of the Trnava groups’ representatives, Ján Stacho. The subject of our research is his debut poetry collection from 1961, “Wedding Journey.” In his poems, we connect memory – as childhood and natural – with the metaphor of “salt-ing the senses” and the naive, unencumbered “sensing” the world to grasp the latter. We also include an intertextual reference to the text "Memory" of another poet from the Trnava group Ján Ondruš, which representatives refer to as one of their program’s works. Key words: childhood memory, natural memory, senses, Slovak literature, Trnava group. Bílik, R., 2000. Ľubomír Feldek. Bratislava: Kalligram. (In Slovak) Bokníková, A., 2006. Trnava Group – Concretists. Bratislava: Kalligram. (In Slovak) Feldek, Ľ., 2007. The Doomed Group of Trnava. Bratislava: Columbus. (In Slovak) Gilman, R., 2005. The Drama Is Coming Now: The Theater Criticism of Richard Gilman. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. (In English) Hajko, D., 1998. Ján Stacho: Essay on the Poet Who Wanted to Read the Ciphers of Being. Bratislava: National Literary Centre. (In Slovak) Jelínek, A., 1961. Vítězslav Nezval. Praha: Czechoslovak Writers. (In Czech) Kupec, I., 1955. In Defense of Poetry. Cultural Life, 44 (10), pp.4–6. (In Slovak) Maslowski, N. and Šubrt, J., 2015. Collective Memory. Theoretical Questions. Praha: Karolinum. (In Slovak) Matejov, F., 1986. Ján Ondruš’ Poem Memory. V: Literary Views. Proceedings of Young Literary Science. Bratislava: Smena, pp.164–185. Mikula, V., 2013. “Red” Fifties in “Golden” Sixties. V: Waiting for History. Articles on Slovak Literary History. Bratislava: UK, pp.127–147. (In Slovak) Nora, P., 2004. The Global Rise of Memory. V: Y. Znepolsky, red. Pierre Nora. Places of Memory and Constructing the Present. Sofia: House for Science and Society, pp.19–35. (In Bulgarian) Ondruš, J., 1965. The Mad Moon. Bratislava, 1965, 1982. (In Slovak) Ondruš, Ya., 1997. Out of the Mirror. Sofia: Literary front. (In Bulgarian) Prodanov, V., 2006. Memory Speculations. V: Culture and Memory. Varna, pp.58–85. (In Bulgarian) Stacho, J., 1961. Wedding Journey. Bratislava, 1961. (In Slovak) Šimonovič, J., 1962. According to Wedding Journey. Young Creation, 7(8–9), pp.28–29. (In Slovak)