Between Adaptation, Evasion and Resistance: Grey Zones in Slovak Literature During the Decline of State Socialism

Abstract Guided by the concept of the grey zone, this article explores the role of officially published Slovak literature during the normalization period of state socialism as a site of negotiated critique. It examines how literary works navigated blurred boundaries between ideological conformity and cultural dissent. Rather than directly opposing the regime, many authors strategically adapted or manipulated state-approved cultural codes to challenge official discourse from within. Focusing on late socialist cultural production in Czechoslovakia, the article revisits works by Ján Fekete, Rudolf Sloboda, and Peter Pišťanek, considering their subversive potential. Through close readings, it traces a shift from collective engagement to existential introspection, ecological anxiety, and grotesque parody. These narratives embed civilizational and social critique through subversive irony, emotional dissonance, and ambiguity – tools for expressing discontent while avoiding open resistance. Integrating discourse theory and literary sociology, the study proposes a non-binary model of literary history under authoritarianism. Grey zone literature emerges both as a strategy of cultural survival and a subtle force eroding the socialist cultural canon, with comparative relevance for understanding intellectual life under late socialism.