Czech, Hungarian, Russian as well as Turkish, Arabic or Latvian – these are all languages into which Slovak literary works have been translated.
Let’s just say it clearly: Some Slovak books are only good as a free supplement to a feminine magazine or as heating material. The fact that popular stories are often mere junk without artistic value, fortunately, does not define the whole of literature. Original Slovak fiction can pride itself on works that have achieved success in the world and received international awards. As the Slovak book market offers a huge assortment of imported literature, we often overlook our home jewels. Maybe that’s why many Slovak books and their authors are paving their ways to foreign markets and their work is published in various translations. Let’s have a look at the most-translated Slovak titles and those languages adorned with a piece of Slovak literature.
Among novelists, Jozef Banas takes the lead. His novel Jubilation Zone, A dramatic story of friendship and love (1968 – 2008) gives the impression of an international co-production project involving Germany, Austria, Ukraine and Slovakia with Jozef Banas as the team leader. A story capturing a unique friendship set in a historical timeframe when human tolerance and capacity to endure were put to test. The author draws on real events in which personalities such as Husak, Dubcek, Brezhnev, Gorbachev and Havel play their roles. The novel has been published in Slovak, Czech, German, Polish, Russian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Arabic and Hindi.
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