Narratives
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Top ten lists, trade publisher catalogues, internet sales figures, and new arrivals in mainstream shops, supermarkets, and department stores suggest that romance is the most popular literary genre in Slovakia.
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Sales information and cover images for the top-selling periodicals and novels as well as figures indicating the rising popularity of the internet describe the popular print market.
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Various genres of cheap small-format literature from the ‘60s to 2009, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, romance, and western.
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In the small town of Leopoldov 40 minutes from Bratislava, a two-story labyrinth of rooms overflowing with a variety of twentieth-century books and magazines of all forms and genres.
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A unique café book shop on the edge of the old town in Bratislava offers popular previously-owned books in English, classic Slovak literature, periodicals, the internet, and more.
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Word and number games are popular, as books or in periodical publications, and may be simple or complicated, educational, humorous, or otherwise.
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Bratislava offers everything from the dark old communist dens in the old town and one-room antikvariats hidden in the suburbs to the upscale chain shops in the malls and international media outlets in the city centre.
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Shop windows provide an interesting reflection upon the book trade in Bratislava, including communist-era throwbacks, upmarket connections, and other more eclectic displays.
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A brief visual tour of the capital city, with particular emphasis on the old town located at the heart of 'the little big city'.
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A photo essay emphasizing the street in streetprint that provides images of several of the primary pathways in Bratislava.
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Interviews with prominent publishers describe the print and publishing industry in Slovakia.
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A few examples of obscure or odd aspects of the print industry, in particular, a beach lounge next to the Danube and an urban reading area set up in the old town.
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Free-standing stalls that sell periodicals, cigarettes, candy, etc., ranging from abysmal, graffiti-laden metal boxes to the sleek, modern versions that grace the more fashionable byways.
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Descriptions of different shops and a sense of the diversity present, although perhaps soon to disappear, between the old sellers and modern chain stores.
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Bulletin boards, schedules, advertisements, billboards, street art, and graffiti comprise only some of the ‘categories’ that help to describe or at least include the plethora of signage throughout the city.
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A visual tour of the pocket western, before and after 1989, including variations in literary style, cover art, source language, pricing, advertising, length, introductions, and point-of-sale location.
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Sex, violence, entertainment ... and a little news. Print dailies are among the most popular print items in Slovakia.
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Food, games, daily life, sports, westerns, how to choose a baby name, travel, history, classic literature, chic lit, science fiction, mystery, technology, spiritual, self-help, home, health...
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Books for school, children's stories, and comics; a small sample of print artifacts for children, including Czech comics that come with a toy of some sort that were popular at some press outlets.
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Maxim E. Matkin is the pseudonym used by the as yet unidentified author of a number of novels particularly popular with young women in Slovakia.
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While there are several magazines of a more open cast which combine politics and a significant portion of culture (music, books, etc), the weekly periodical market is dominated by artifacts designed for women.
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The monthly magazine is generally more expensive and emphasizes self-improvement with points of interests to individuals and families, including food, home, social issues, and gardening.
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Five interviews with prominent sellers in Bratislava offer important information, stories, and opinions about the print and publishing industry in Slovakia.
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Interviews with the editors of two major periodicals about their own publications, the print and publishing industry, and the future of print in Slovakia.
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An informative and entertaining interview in English with a best-selling Slovak author about the book industry, popular fiction, and reading in Slovakia.