Fragmentary identity in the poetry of Michal Habaj

Drawing on the theoretical framework developed by Camelia Elias, the paper focuses of the literary fragment in Slovak poetry. Together with the theoretical approaches of Fedor Matejov and Andrea Bokníková, it briefly points out the importance of the fragment in the development of Slovak poetry in the second half of the 20th century, resulting in the experimental-deconstructive line of Slovak poetry of the late 20th and early 21st century, for which fragment is a typical constructional textual element. The article traces how, using intertextuality, appropriation and irony, the fragment serves to reflect on cultural change. Particular attention is paid to the poetry of Michal Habaj, within which the fragment does not merely function as an incomplete remnant of the whole, but acts as a dynamic element capable of creating new links of meaning. Fragmentation appears in Habaj’s poetry on the thematic and formal level, and also in the construction of authorial identities or subjects. The analysis of the subject – the cyborg is presented against the backdrop of the interpretation of the poem “Nezabudnúť: dnes, zajtra, včera [Not to forget: today, tomorrow, yesterday] from the collection Korene neba. Básne z posledného storočia (Roots of heaven. Poems from the last century, 2000).