Folklore's Resurgence: From Tragedy to Playfulness in Czech and Slovak Literature

The Czech parliament hosted the first Day of Folk Costume on February 27, 2024. Politicians initiated the event, featuring an exhibition of historical folk costumes. A year later, it evolved into ‘The Day of Folk Costumes and Regions in the Chamber of Deputies,’ including a parade and cultural festival.

This resurgence of folklore mirrors its growing presence in broader culture and society, extending beyond its traditional Moravian association. Folklore, once on the periphery, has now entered the cultural mainstream, even in Prague.

Folklore as Cultural Anchor

In uncertain times, societies often seek traditions that reinforce their identity. Folklore, understood as tradition and an inheritance from the past, provides this foundational element. The Romantics and National Revivalists of the nineteenth century played a role in shaping this by collecting folk songs, creating historical narratives, and adapting folklore themes.

Contemporary literature continues this tradition, drawing from diverse sources within ethical boundaries. Philosopher and anthropologist Joseph Grim Feinberg notes that a postcolonial shift has led to the increased recognition of folklore and previously silenced voices. The distinction between European ‘folklore’ and non-European ‘indigenous art’ has blurred, with folklore now encompassing various handmade folk art forms.

Evolving Perspectives on Folklore

Publications like the 2021 collection ‘The weight and weightlessness of folklore’ (edited by Daniela Stavělová) track the discourse on folklore in the Czech Republic. Post-communist critiques had dismissed folklore as an 'escapist' practice under communism. This view shifted in the 2010s, influenced by election outcomes and a revisionist historical approach. Folklore began to be recognized as 'intangible cultural heritage,' aligning with UNESCO's 2003 convention, which lists items like the Slovak overtone flute, indigo dyeing, puppetry, and the Ride of the Kings.

In Slovakia, Feinberg's foreword to the Slovak translation of his book The Paradox of Authenticity (2018) contextualizes folklore research within contemporary politics, particularly the rise of nationalism following the 2015 ‘refugee crisis.’ Anthropologist Juraj Buzalka links this radicalization to a persistent 'village mentality,' characterized by anti-globalization sentiments and distrust of elites. Sociologist Dominik Želinský, however, attributes political shifts to power dynamics and media influence rather than simplistic stereotypes. Despite these debates, a conservative view of folklore remains central to Slovak identity.

The ‘Last Goddess’ and Contemporary Literature

In the 2010s, folklore gained prominence in Czech literature. While contemporary Slovak literature shows a strong regional focus, Czech literary analyses since the 1990s emphasize memory and the past over regionalism or urban-rural divides. The 'village novel,' exemplified by Jiří Hájíček, is not primarily viewed through a folklore lens.

However, a folklore perspective offers valuable insights into prose written since 2010, enabling cross-national literary comparisons, including with the hispanophone folk-horror feminist movement. It reveals unexpected connections, such as between Kateřina Tučková and Olga Tokarczuk, both drawing on the work of Božena Němcová.

This trend also highlights the gendered nature of folklore’s literary representation. Many female authors feature protagonists using handicrafts to shape their identity. This connects to feminist theories on women's exclusion from dominant narratives, with folklore offering an accessible, locally rooted alternative to universal myths.

Kateřina Tučková's bestselling novel Žitkovské bohyně (The Last Goddess, 2012) is set in a region known for local goddesses. The novel tragically depicts the decline of this tradition under patriarchal influence and successive regimes. While Tučková critiques the world's evils, her portrayal of lesbian relationships and exoticization of Slovakia are problematic. Her work, however, shares a similar ethnographic framework with nineteenth-century Czech women writers.

Anna Bolavá's novel Do tmy (Into darkness, 2015) explores themes of invisibility and infertility through a translator and herb-gatherer. The concluding parts of Bolavá's trilogy, Ke dnu (Down to the bottom, 2017) and Po potopě (After the deluge, 2020), incorporate folklore traditions and mythologizing, particularly through the figure of a water goblin.

Whisperers, Embroidery, and Drag

The 2010s saw a significant folkloristic trend in Slovak literature, culminating in Anasoft Litera prize nominations. Katarína Kucbelová's Čepiec (The Bonnet, 2024 translation), Alena Sabuchová's Šeptuchy (‘Whisperers’), and Dominika Madro's Svätyne (‘Sanctuaries’) represent distinct poetic approaches within this ethnographic-mythical current.

Kucbelová's The Bonnet is an auto-ethnographic exploration of art and tradition, blending personal and ancestral stories with the craft of bonnet embroidery. She addresses her own sense of uprootedness and the gender continuity inherent in these traditions.

Sabuchová's Whisperers, based on ethnographic research, features a fictional narrative of encounters with the dead and female folk healers. The novel explores female loneliness and the creation of new rituals that challenge patriarchal and religious structures.

Madro's Sanctuaries is a lyrical, ballad-like story set in western Slovakia. It shares themes of infertility with Czech authors like Bolavá and Vlasáková, concluding pessimistically.

While male authors incorporate folklore, they typically don't use it to explore masculine identity. Maroš Krajňak's trilogy focuses on the cultural memory of the Ruthenian community, while Lukáš Luk humorously addresses regional identity. Miroslav Hlaučo's Letnice (Pentecost, 2023) employs standard gender stereotypes.

Literary reportage also features folklore elements. Andrej Bán's Slon na Zemplíne (The elephant in Zemplín, 2018) examines Slovak identity. Matěj Hořava's Pálenka (Distilled spirits, 2014) evokes nostalgia. Jiří Hájíček's novels, focused on genealogical research, are less influenced by folklore.

Jakub Spevák, however, blends biblical imagery with folklore in his autobiographical work Všetko, čo som ti nestihol povedať (Everything I never managed to tell you, 2025), exploring his queer identity through the intersection of drag and folklore.

Obsession, Community, and Artistic Expression

Contemporary literature, particularly by women, highlights folklore's role in creating continuity (Kucbelová) or fostering community (Sabuchová's widows in The Whisperers).

Folklore can also represent inherited human archetypes, as seen in Dominika Moravčíková's short story collection Dom pre jeleňa (The deer house, 2022). In Bolavá's trilogy, folklore is linked to obsession and struggles against the neoliberal order. Tučková views the decline of folklore as a tragedy, especially for women.

These female authors employ techniques reminiscent of authorial myth, including depicting pre-modern societies, cyclical time, and the cathartic function of myth. Their focus on folklore over myth suggests a practice of 'authorial folklore,' paralleled in music and other arts.

Experimental projects like Púčik's Spievanky (Ditties, 2024) use folklore ironically to frame the experiences of trans people. New folk bands and songwriters often incorporate theatrical pathos, a trend also seen in poetry, such as Tereza Šustková's collection Koutnice (2024), which blends Christian messages with pain, echoing authors like Madro and Bolavá.

Poets like Klára Krásenská and Dominika Moravčíková draw on village life, Christian spirituality, and nature, aligning with cottagecore aesthetics. Jela Abasová writes quasi-mythological poetry and haikus, alternating between epic narratives and scenes of village life. Patrícia Gabrišová's poetry uses folklore motifs connected to water.

Divergent Forms of Folklore in Literature

While gendering is less prominent in poetry, male poets also engage with folklore. Miloš Doležal’s collection Jana bude brzy sbírat lipový květ (Jana will soon gather linden blossoms, 2022) links women with herb-gathering, paralleling Bolavá. Doležal also explores spiritual themes and personal loss.

Vojtěch Štěpán’s poetry features spirituality linked to myth, while Petr Šmíd invents folklore-like beings and new proverbs, exploring different 'countries' of existence.

Authorial folklore functions as individual branding and marketing but also enriches literature with new poetics. This trend is prominent in Czech works like The Last Goddess and the Řečkovice trilogy, and even more so in Slovak literature, where the mythic-ethnographic movement is a key direction.

Joseph Grim Feinberg identifies two forms of new folklore-related art: the 'tragic,' characteristic of the post-Communist era, and a later, utopian, 'radically historic' form. The former applies to many Czech women writers, while the latter, playful and subversive, characterizes much recent writing, irrespective of formal parliamentary displays.