Poetry
Uťaté ruky
Not translated into English
Rudolf Fabry · 1935
Synopsis
A book in four parts, composed with precision. The Prologue, whose title is struck through as if it were no longer valid, keeps a traditional poetics and measured verse. The Poems open the experimentation, in free verse, with provocative images and associations; one of them is dedicated to André Breton. Prietrž gathers automatic texts, three in verse and one in prose, and Fair play, under the motto “At the price of art, we give up art”, plays with children's nursery rhymes.
Context
The book appeared in December 1935 as the first volume of the Aligátor series, in Bratislava; Michal Bakoš helped the author prepare it, and the author himself did the layout and the cover. Nourished by Dadaism, Poetism and Surrealism, it breaks with the tradition of Hviezdoslav and Krasko and with the neosymbolism of the time, through the free chaining of associations and the spontaneous image. Many critics then accused the author of having dishonoured poetry, above all because of Fair play; today it is regarded as the first signal of the birth of Slovak surrealism.
Who it is for
A slim volume of about sixty pages, made up of poems and automatic texts, with no sustained logic.
Prizes and reception
The first completed nadrealist body of work in Slovak literature, and the beginning of an oeuvre as poet and visual artist.