STANISLAV RAKÚS: Košice is one of the two principal cities of my life

Literary scientist and prose writer Stanislav Rakús comes from Western Slovakia. He made his way to Košice via Prešov where he studied philology, specializing in Slovak and Russian. He acknowledges Košice as one of the two principal cities of his life.

You were not born in Košice. What ties you to this city?
My relationship with the city started developing at night, namely during long night walks. I originally wanted to tackle my starting obesity this way, but over time my predilection in nightly scenery of the city won over my initial intent – its silence, twilight and lights, serenity of the streets in southern and northern parts of the city, but also quiescent housing estates, empty roads, stores, and building in the historical city center. I used to experience a sensation of the peculiar, somehow monumental solitude on my long walks down the streets meeting nobody far and by. In a motionless quietness of the nocturnal scenery, which climaxed around three in the morning, I was perceptive to things I might have not noticed at another time.

What did you find in Košice and what could other people of Europe look for here?
Antiquity, lyrical atmosphere, fascinating south-to-north position, resembling the archetype of nascence and death, charming city scenery in seasonal transformations, quiet and lively urban zones, but also positive historical and modern diversity, thanks to which I am able to perceive (and exceptions confirm the rule) Košice as a city of serenity and liberality. People of Europe could look and find architectonic beauty, unison of natural and urban elements, but also tolerant human environment.

You have lived most of your life in a regime, which often liked to underline the importance of borders. What is your stand on the phenomenon of borders, or the lack of them?
Even though I belong to an unfortunate type of people, who do not like to travel (which makes Košice so much more important to me, since I spend all those years here without a vacation away), the world without borders affect my consciousness in a resurgent manner.

How do you view the subject matter of borders in professional literature?
Borders of factual, inner, and symbolic significance can carry painful thematic energy, and can become a source of strained dramatic stories.

Could the political borders overlap with the borders of culture?
Each truly value, including cultural and artistic ones, tries to do away with borders, to outstep them, and reach a more common humanistic validity despite diverse human identity and various nature of cultural institutions.  It should really also be valid in politics, which while it preserves plurality and diversity of opinions, it should retain the ability to communicate and lead cultural dialogue.

In one of your books on Košice, you mention that is it a city of panorama and perspective.  Could you clarity this view of the city to our readers please?
I meant it literally – one can effortlessly view Košice’s housing estates built on hills and conversely see the old town and its modern surroundings from the hills. On a tram ride passing Moldavská cesta and heading to one of the two main squares, it is hard to resist the extensive area covered mainly by family houses. One suddenly sees everything lying open in front him – little streets, tree alleys, roads, sidewalks, yards, gardens, bungalows, two- or three-storey houses, restaurants, a miniature shutdown factory, offices, churches, even the old, yet still fully utilized hospital buildings. Sándor Márai, in a different time and space, had a similar feeling when, after visiting Rozália cemetery, he exclaimed “Peace to the dead! I look at the city and make my way to the living.” Such visual, even mythical vitality of the city could attract people here.

If Košice wins the European Culture Capital title in 2013, what would you like to see and hear here?
I would  like Košice to retain and develop this inner creative profile and potential using new investment projects instead of becoming a superficial territory for show.

You teach at university. You have entered general discussion on the significance of education at primary and secondary schools. How should cultural projects contribute to education process?
I will try to demonstrate it in teaching literature, which is my profession.  The entire system should lead to naturalness and functionality of this sphere, which can only be achieved by teaching literature as an art. The main emphasis should be placed on teaching critical reading, in which the student learns to discern value from the lack of it.  Every cultural project must keep the innermost nature of its subject matter in focus. That is the only way it can become a contribution and retain its human quality.

How can the education process and creativity team up in your opinion, and how can one stimulate creativity?
Creativity can be stimulated by paying greater attention to researching predispositions and differentiating aptitude. Once the identification has been completed, the process, in which the individual is given an opportunity to develop his/her natural abilities all his/her life, should be initiated. If a person does not and cannot assert his/her talent, it can lead to frustration and cause, as Viktor Emil Frankl called it, “existential vacuum”.

Roman Sorger

Stanislav Rakús (1940) – a Slovak prose writer, literary scientist and university teacher.  He was born in a family of a tailor. He acquired his education in Trnava and Prešov, where he majored in Slovak and Russian at Vysoká škola pedagogická in 1957 – 1961. He taught in Trebišov and Košice. He worked as an external dramatic adviser at Štátne bábkové divadlo in Košice in 1966 – 1968.  He has worked at Filozofická fakulta Prešovskej univerzity since 1969. He completed his PhD degree in 1973. He acquired the CSc. title in 1981, and the DrSc. title in 1996. He lives in Košice.
He started publishing in 1960s, when his short stories and a novella, but also reviews, articles on literature and literary science studies came out in several magazines ( such as Slovenské pohľady, Mladá tvorba, Romboid, Matičné čítanie, etc.). He has focused to his professional attention in literary science on modern Slovak prose (Peter Jilemnický, Rudolf Jašík, Milo Urban, etc.).  He was awarded the prize of Dominik Tatarka for his Nenapísaný roman in 2004, and the prize of Asociácia organizácií spisovateľov Slovenska.
Source: www.wikipedia.sk