Birth date

19. 10. 1936  [en] Dubová

Death date

16. 06. 2001  [en] Modra

Fields of interest

próza, poézia, literatúra pre deti a mládež, publicistika

Briefly about author

Šikula entered literature with a collection of sketches and stories on army life. His first books based on natural tales in an attractive manner presented the authentic experiences of sensitive protagonists within which a warm relationship towards people, towards nature and towards the permanent values of life. There are free games of association, experiences, images and fantasy. The sensitivity, musicality, colour and a sense for poetic detail give Šikula's prose a lyrical colouring. The story There Isn't an Inn on Every Hill is composed like a musical work. Šikula's style is not infused with music but musical motifs are present as a significant part of the meaning of his prose. The trilogy Masters has an individual significance in Šikula's work. It is a view of the Slovak National Uprising and the Second World War seen through the prism of ordinary Slovaks. History flows through protagonists, both great and small, deeply rooted in their homes, which has taught them their values, a love of small joys and above everything the validity of human life.
The events of war destroy these values but the tragedy of these people is only an appeal without pathos for a return to the humanism of human specificity.
In his tales and novellas Šikula has produced a storytelling style of perfection whose characteristic features are abbreviation of significance, tender humour and excellent dialogue. His short prose characteristically explores different areas, but their basis are human beings who unendingly affirm their relationship to others. In the novella The Weathercock, this relationship almost assumes a tragic form as the young hero must deal with the reality that he has not done everything required by natural feeling for humanity because he did not protect a priest against totalitarian power. Šikula shows through his psychological portraiture in miniature against a backdrop of the unmerciful practices of power not only how relationships between people are destroyed, but also how individual human personality is also destroyed.

Briefly about production

prose:
No Applause at Concerts (Na koncertoch sa netlieska, 1964, short stories), Perhaps I'll Build Myself a Bungalow (Možno si postavím bungalov, 1964, short stories), With Rosarka (S Rozarkou, 1966, novella), The Breeze (Povetrie, 1968, short stories), the trilogy of novels Masters (Masters, Majstri, 1976; Geranium, Muškát, 1977; Vilma, 1979), Oriole (Vlha, 1978, novella), Hazelnuts (Liesky, 1980, novella), The Soldier (Vojak, 1981, novella), Matthew (Matej, 1981, novela), Nocturnes (Nokturná, 1983), Heroic Studies of a Horse (Heroické etudy pre koňa, 1987), A Shepherd's Knapsack (Pastierska kapsička, 1990, short stories), Ornament (Ornament, 1991, novel), Quick Minuet (Pôstny menuet, 1995, novel), The Weathercock (Veterná ružica, 1995, novel), Angel Gabriela - novel (Anjel Gabriela, novela, 2000), Strike the Shepperd (Udri pastiera, 2001), The Blessed Baton (Požehnaná aktovka, 2004), Ornament and Other Prose Works (Ornament a iné prózy - výber, 2007), Poste restante (Poste restante, 2007)

poetry:
From the House on the Hill (Z domu na kopci, 1983), From a Neglected Garden
(Zo zanedbanej záhrady, 1993), September the Drummer (Bubeník september, 1998), Over the Leave of Lilac (Za odchodom orgovánu, 2003) 

children's books:
Mr Gamekeeper Has a Feather in his Hat (Pán horár má za klobúkom mydleničku, 1965), Holidays with Uncle Rafael (Prázdniny so strýcom Rafaelom, 1996), Father Will Spank Me Anyway (Otec ma zderie tak či tak, 1980), Duro, Regards to Duro (Ďuro, pozdrav Ďura, 1978), The Little Egg of a Lilliputian Hen (Vajíčko sliepky liliputánky, 1981), About the Clever Rooster (O múdrom kohútikovi, 1984), Tales and Tellings (Rozprávky a rozprávania, 1996), Medard´s Fairy Tales (Medardove rozprávky, 1997), Vladko and the Dog (Vladko a pes, 2000), Vinny (Vincúrko, 2001)

film script:
Father Will Spank Me Anyway (Otec ma zderie tak či tak, 1980) works translated:
Šikula's works (mainly short stories and novellas) were translated into a dozen of languages and published in literary magazines and anthologies in Poland, Russia, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, etc.
Holidays with Uncle Rafael (1966 Polish, 1968 Bulgarian, 1968 Hungarian, 1981, 1990 Macedonian)
Mandula (1973 German)
Masters (1977, 1983 Polish, 1979 Slovenian, 1980 Croatian, 1981 Russian, 1983 Romanian, 1986 Bulgarian)
Geranium (1980 Polish, 1982 Russian, 1983 Ukrainian)
Quick Minuet (1999 Bulgarian)
The Weathercock (2000 Hungarian)

Ornament (Ornament, 2004, Bulgarian)

Over the Leave of Lilac (Za odchodom orgovánu, 2005, Macedonian)

Biography for author

Born 19 October 1936 in Dubová. He graduated from the State Conservatoire in Bratislava as a horn player. He worked as an organist and teacher in a people's school of arts. At the same time he was an editor at the literary magazine Romboid and afterwards from 1969 to 1973 he worked as a producer for Slovak Film. Until 1992 he was an editor for Slovak prose in the Slovenský spisovateľ publishing house. He was chairman of the Slovak Writers' Society from 1995 to 1998. At present he is retired. He died on 16 June 2001 in Modra.

about author

Šikula doesn't resort to history to find easy lessons and models for his prose. History for him exists and doesn't exist, it must be explored for what human beings have put into it, their energy however small. Šikula does not touch on the totality of life in
a conforming view of the whole of social life and historical times, but penetrates through rifts and peep holes…

Šikula is the prose writer of the "unwritten "collective popular experience. Any historical (political)background is measured in his prose by the riff of simple untaught and unstudied empiria of the inhabitants of the subarpathian countryside who have been taught by the land and long years of co-existence and the morality of unselfishness and help.

Author about himself

A story can be so beautiful and interesting that it shouldn't be written at all because the writer can only spoil it. A story can be suitable for an oboe, another for
a bassoon, another for a wind quintet and another for a symphony orchestra.

Yes, my main theme is the theme of home. In fact I always write about home. It can look as if this single theme has tied my hands, but I claim that it's the reverse.

Sample

GRANNIE (extract)