Ilona. My Life with the Bard

A fictionalized biography of Ilona Nováková (1856- 1932), wife of Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav (1849-1921), one of Slovakia's most revered poets. By reconstructing the minutiae of Ilona's everyday domestic routines and envisioning her thought processes, Jana Juráňová paints a vivid and subtly ironic portrait of a woman who spent her life in the shadow of her husband. Juráňová debunks the myth of the great artist, showing instead a vain and self-centred man, unwilling to take criticism and oblivious of his wife's needs. Wittily recreating or imagining Hviezdoslav's real-life encounters with fellow writers and literary scholars—based on careful research in historical and literary sources—Jana Juráňová weaves a rich tapestry of cultural, social and political life in fin-de-siècle Slovakia.

Publisher

Number of pages

146

Language

English language

Year

2014

Book category

General Fiction

Original

Žila som s Hviezdoslavom

Original language

Slovak language

Issue

1.

Country

United States

ISBN

978-0-9887903-5-3

Book cover

Paperback

Supported by

LIC/SLOLIA

Foreword

Silvia Tomášková

Photo author

Marek Juráň