THE MYTH ABOUT THE NATIONAL HERO JURAJ JÁNOŠÍK: INVENTING TRADITION WITHIN SLOVAK NATIONALISM

Abstract

This paper analyzes the characteristics of the processes which are related to the creation (invention) of the tradition about the Slovak local highwayman Juraj Jánošík. That is, the analysis is focused on the overview of different constellations related to his mythization within the Slovak nationalism as well as on various forms of manifestations of this national myth over time in terms of wider social, cultural and political pattern. There was an intention to widely follow the different forms of development and the perception of this national myth, with the focus on pointing out the distinction but also on the interweaving in the apprehension of Jánošík as a social bandit, which is the historical background of his personality as well as the perception of Jánošík as a national hero with a clearly distinctive ethnic connotation. In order to get a clearer indication of this difference – this is of the crucial importance anyway if we are to track the origin and the development of this myth within the Slovak nationalism, the paper points out certain aspects about the understanding of the subject of brigandage (social banditry) in the Slovakian romanticism.