My wife came home and as soon she came through the door she burst out: Did you know that you can get a driving licence without a test for 500 euros and a secondary school leaving certificate without attending school for a thousand?  Yesterday a friend of mine gave a five hundred euro note to a doctor just so that he would take a look at her sick mother!  Her eyes were wide with horror, as if she had just seen the devil.  Maybe she has. Ten years ago I would have told her not to believe everything people say […]

Šiesteho decembra zomrela po dlhej chorobe zomrela skvelá prekladateľka z maďarčiny, ruštiny a poľštiny do slovenčiny Juliana Szolnokiová (23. 2. 1946 – 6. 12. 2009). Ženy rodia rozkročené nad hrobom, napísal Samuel Beckett. Jeho konštatovanie nie je iba morbídnou metaforou nezmyselnej vojny, ale aj krátkosti ľudského života. Keďže viem, že v univerze flóry a fauny je na bytie mnohých jedincov vymeraný dlhší čas než na bytie človeka, mohol by som aj povedať, že čas vymeraný na ľudský život je smiešne krátky. Touto strašnou vetou nás Beckett vyzýva, aby sme neboli nenásytní a uznali, že sotva máme čas, preto si musíme správne […]

Pre pôvodných obyvateľov Ameriky a väčšinu národov, ktoré zostali dlho bez písma, bol čas, keď ľudia neboli ešte naozaj oddelení od zvierat a mohli spolu navzájom komunikovať, mýtickým časom. To, že sa historický čas začal odvodzovať od Babylonskej veže, keď ľudia stratili schopnosť používať spoločný jazyk a prestali si rozumieť, by im muselo pripadať ako absolútne zúženie vecí. Pre nich sa koniec tejto primitívnej harmónie odohrával na oveľa širšej scéne: nezasiahol iba ľudí, ale všetky živé bytosti. Ešte aj dnes sme si stále matne vedomí tejto prvotnej solidarity medzi všetkými formami života. Máločo tak naliehavo vtláčame našim deťom už od […]

For the past few months a neighbour has been leaving the tabloid Nový Čas by my front door. I guess this is his way of paying me back for the eight years I used to put through his letter box the next day’’s issue of Slovakia’’s largest-circulation serious daily SME of which I was editor at the time. Today I learned from the tabloid that our left-wing Prime Minister Robert Fico, who had won the hearts of the poorest voters, wears a 20,000 Euro watch and that his coalition partner, the nationalist populist Ján Slota has several luxury cars in […]

To je už dvadsať rokov? Ale to ubehlo! Nevedno kedy. Všetko som si presťahoval do dediny v Karpatoch, neďaleko slovenskej hranice. Všetky zmeny, celú tú revolúciu som vnímal zďaleka. Trochu ako keby sa to dialo v cudzej krajine. Z perspektívy dvadsiatich rokov vidím, že som sa celým tým dianím zaoberal naozaj málo. Nepodieľal som sa na ňom. Ťažko sa mi hľadá nejaký prelomový moment, či cézura – prerývka. Možno to začalo tým, že do našej chaty prestali chodiť pohraničiari legitimovať hostí. Voľakedy to bola celkom bežná, rutinná záležitosť, ktorú muži, prichádzajúci na motocykloch a v zime na snežných skútroch, vykonávali so zhovievavou ľahostajnosťou. Zásobovali ma […]

Viktor Jerofejev napísal drobný príbeh zo života ruských spisovateľov, neodmysliteľne spojeného s vodkou. Pretože: zmyslu života nemožno porozumieť v triezvom stave, čím viac človek pije, tým zreteľnejšie vidí obzory svojho života. Kdesi na začiatku deväťdesiatych rokov som sa v Amerike v štáte Connecticut  zoznámil s legendárnou Majakovského milenkou Tatianou Jakovlevovou. Vysoká, vysušená, pekná starena mala za muža  šéfredaktora časopisu Vogue Alexa Liebermana, a cez víkendy mala možnosť prijímať u seba celú newyorskú módnu a intelektuálnu elitu. Zbožňovali Brodského a po Amerike kolovali chýry, že mu zorganizovali Nobelovu cenu. Tatiana považovala Brodského za múdrejšieho, než bol Majakovskij, aspoň mi to hovorila, […]

It must truly be special if it is something to which amorous couples, governments as well as trade partners attach equal importance. Looking from afar this phenomenon appears to play an equally significant role in the lives of people but also of animals both where it exists and where it is absent.  Moreover, not only do animals and people trust or mistrust each other or the universe, they both create dramatic situations giving free rein to two of their magic skills: mimesis and mimicry. They know how to dispel the distrust of others. They know how to abuse the trust of […]

  There is a long tradition, particularly strong since the middle of the past century, of  writers making use of the power of their words in defence of  good causes, including their own colleagues whose life and freedom have been under threat of dictatorship of every ilk. This laudable tradition has recently taken on a new dimension, with eleven renowned writers speaking out in defence of their colleague Milan Kundera. Although he lives in a free country, France, they feel his honour is under threat from a campaign of defamation. Sadly, their expression of solidarity bears a striking resemblance to […]

  Viewed from Poland, Czechoslovakia has always been a kind of miracle.Between the two world wars it was the only democratic country in our part of Europe. I am familiar with the critical views on the part of Polish historians and writers as well as with some of the works by Slovak and Czech historians. The Poles were upset that arms shipments were not allowed to pass through Czechoslovak territory during the Polish-Russian war and that the Zaolsze/Zaolší border region was annexed by Czechoslovakia. The Slovaks complained of Prague’’s centralism and discrimination against their nation by the Czechoslovak government, as […]

Nothing lasts forever and countries are no exception. They emerge and vanish. These days they vanish by separating into their previously delineated territorial parts, they vanish by splitting. What this indicates is that the international community does not want to accept the creation of entirely new borders. Czechoslovakia, or Czecho-Slovakia as it was called in its last incarnation, no longer exists as a state, its two constituent parts having gone their separate ways. It continues to live, however, as a locus of memory and as such it deserves our attention. It inspires us to ponder the destinies of Central European linguistic nationalisms […]