Morality as an Attribute of Forming Spirituality in the Works of Jozef Gregor Tajovský (Exemplified by the Short Story „Capercaillie“, 1919)

The paper analyzes presence of spirituality in a so-called legionary short story by Jozef Gregor Tajovský (1874 – 1940) “Hlucháň”/“The Capercaillie” from the collection of proses Na vojne (At War, 1919). The interpretation is based on the thoerem that Marcela Mikulová formulated about the main character as a modern-day saint and Ivica Hajdučeková´s thesis about the prayer as a „spiritualem“ reaching as far as the implicit level of the literary text and labelling the main character with the attribute „apostolizing“. Using „vertical“ characteristics, Tajovský depicted the central character of the short story as a spiritually strong person, for whom belief in God is an essential attribute of living, thinking and doing. As religiosity and spirituality were in harmony in his life, being religious became the fundamental categorical imperative. Dynamics of love and courage to spread the word of God shifted him from the periphery to the centre of the situation, which made him an example to follow. In line with this, he developed the attributes of the apostole prototype, who was due to his personal dialogue with God elevated to the character of „homo religiosus“. Tajovský used the contrastive principle of the high and low as an active ingredient, which affected the inner level of the text. The outcome was a paradox which became the writer´s tool for penetrating deeper into the inner worlds of the characters