The novel The Dog on the Road awarded the Anasoft Litera Readers' Prize in 2011, is a brilliant, captivatingly realistic, yet at the same time self-ironising narrative about the Slovak spirit not only shortly after the Velvet Revolution but also in the years after. With the precise eye of a knowledgeable and experienced observer, Pavel Vilikovský has captured the feelings of the post-communist society of the 1990s, to which the door to the Western world has been opened. This rather simple story introduces us to the editor of the publishing house Iks Ypsilon, who has to present two Slovak writers in Austria, although they may not be the most prominent sample. The editor's narrative allows room for many micro-stories, tragicomic situations, brilliant associations and precise comments on the theme of pure Slovakness, national character and pettiness. At the same time, the editor follows in the footsteps of the Austrian author Thomas Bernhard. Suddenly, the respective experiences and historical peripeteia of two small neighbouring nations are juxtaposed, or rather placed side by side. As he wanders through the Austrian countryside, however, he happens to meet Margaret, as if by some miracle, and thus another layer of the story is revealed. One that speaks of the changing forms of love, of maturity and the need to live life while we have the chance.

 

The Dog on the Road is a brilliant piece of literature about literature, culture interwoven with irony and insight, but also sensitivity and appreciation. Perhaps the best definition of us Slovaks by Vilikovský: "My dear Slovaks! When will you finally understand that if someone wants a Slovak exactly to their liking, they have to actually bother to make one themselves?"