From Parnassus to the Position of Editor: Cooperation between Koloman Banšell and the Slovak New School

Austro-Hungarian Compromise from 1867 was one of the factors that sped up the differentiating process among the Slovak elites which led to creation of two camps: the Old School and the New School. During this period new generation of writers was also formed which abandoned the canon of Romanticism and found inspiration in a new literary trend – Realism. The new literary generation introduced itself in 1871 when almanac Napred (Ahead) had been published. It was edited by Pavol Országh (-Hviezdoslav) and Koloman Banšell. The older literary generation distanced itself from the emerging young generation. In combination with more liberal politics of the New School, the younger generation opted for the cooperation with this camp of Slovak politicians. K. Banšell published his contributions in literary almanac of the New School Minerva and in 1871 he published together with P. O. Hviezdoslav almanac Napred where the new generation introduced itself. Although the attacks by the members of the New School against members of the Old School and Slovak National Party made the relationship between Banšell and Bobula's New School ambivalent, he published his contributions in Slovenské noviny (The Slovak Newspapers) and satirical poems in satirical journal Ježibaba (The Witch) using pseudonym. Finally he accepted an offer from editor of Slovenské noviny (April – October 1873) and together with Ján Mallý-Slanický became the author of majority of its leading articles which analyzed the strategy of the national movement for the future. He protected national interest of Slovaks with his articles and defended them from the accusations from Pan-Slavism. He did so not only against supporters of magyarization in Hungary, but also against demands coming from Russia calling for bigger inclination of Austro-Hungarian Slavs to the Russian state. After his departure from the editorial staff he still carried on with his contributions for Slovenské noviny and was active as an educator and later as a Lutheran priest.