From Literature “about Children” to Literature “for Children”

The development of children’s literature in Slovakia was significantly influenced by the historical milestone of the end of the First World War (WWI). The new cultural conditions that occurred in Slovakia after the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the foundation of Czechoslovakia created a suitable environment for the development of cultural institutions such as the Slovak Association, libraries, publishing houses and children’s magazines such as Slniečko [Little Sun]. After 1918, the literary production for children and young adults (YAs) began to take two distinct directions – one more traditional (didactic-moralising) and the other more artistic. The then artistic current in Slovak children’s literature promoted literary production for children and integrated it in the domain of art. The literary works of these authors can be further differentiated by identifying optimistic, realist and synthesising concepts of childhood. The post-war years in Slovakia can therefore be described as the beginning of the artistic integration of children’s literature into the system of national literature, which was accomplished in the 1960s.