Ilona. My Life with the Bard

An unconventional portrait of Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav (1849–1921), the great Slovak poet, told through the life of his wife Ilona Nováková (1856–1932). He never mentioned her in his work and the couple were childless, so she vanished from his story, though she was an educated woman from a wealthy family. Now ageing and widowed, she still cares for his work, and her present alternates with memories of her studies, which she compares with what her husband and her brother were allowed. Drawing on documents, chiefly correspondence, the book asks what she longed for, whether she was content with the only role open to her, a wife's, and whether a happy marriage matters more than a finished book of poems.

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About the book

Form

Novella

Length

192 pages in the original

Genres

Historical, Love (assigned by AI)

First published

2008 by Aspekt

Author's age

51 when first published

ISBN

9788085549805 (original)

9780988790353 (Calypso Editions, United States)