The problem of precedentness in contemporary Slovak literature and its translation (as reflected in M. Hvorecký’s novel Tahiti)

Abstract

The paper deals with the issue of precedentness (precedent phenomena) in translation communication. The material base of the analysis is represented by the novel Tahiti (2019) by the contemporary Slovak author Michal Hvorecký and its German translation, which was published under the title Tahiti (2021). The theoretical part presents the definition and classification of precedent phenomena according to V. Krasnykh (2002), then we focus on a brief introduction of the author, his work, as well as thematic and expressive specifics of the analysed work. The paper seeks to decode precedent phenomena in the source text through comparative analysis, to explain their meaning and ethnocultural connotations in the Slovak sociocultural space and to evaluate potential problems of their transfer to the German sociocultural space, especially with regard to the specifics of national precedent units.