Page 72 - November 2020

72
Litterateur
November 2020

Emilia

Pavol Janik

Translation by Heather Trebaticka, nee King

Pavol Janik, PhD., was born in 1956 in Bratislava,
where he also studied film and television
dramaturgy and scriptwriting at the Academy of
Performing Arts. He has worked at the Ministry of
Culture (1983–1987), in the media and in advertising.
President of the Slovak Writers' Society (2003–2007)
and the Secretary-General of the SWS (1998–2003,
2007–2013). He has received a number of awards for
his literary and advertising work both in his own
country and abroad. This virtuoso of Slovak
literature, Pavol Janik, is a poet, dramatist, prose
writer, translator, publicist and copywriter. His
literary activities focus mainly on poetry.

That day Dr. Grossmann woke up feeling decidedly ill at ease. His wife was still
asleep. Something was wrong. He could tell that at a glance when he caught sight
of the dawn in the orchard through the closely gathered net curtains. He could rely
on his first impression. It had never failed him. Never ever. In all his life. And that
was not in just any life, but in his life - in the life of Dr. Grossmann. Those who
knew anything at all about the world in which Dr. Grossmann had lived in the
course of six purposeful decades and one harmonious marriage, should know
what that meant. Dr. Grossmann was not in the habit of being mistaken. It could be
said that as a rule he wasn't mistaken, although it is true that he was never
mistaken - on principle. Appreciation of this rare characteristic of his could be seen
in a number of souvenirs presented to him by grateful bank employees.

Dr. Grossmann slipped on a shiny dressing gown with the coat of arms of the

Krasnohorsky family that was such excellent proof of his dear wife's aristocratic
roots. He was proud of her noble birth. Equis hungaricus - that never failed to raise
his practical spirit to starry heights. At such moments he understood the nobility of
his life's endeavours, he realised the historical significance of his existence. He
was fond of lofty thoughts, but everything in moderation - that was his primary
belief.