Terézia Zuzana Vansová née Medvecká, pseudonyms Johanka Georgiadesová, Milka Žartovnická and Nemophila was a pioneering Slovak female writer and editor during the period of realism. She wrote poetry in both German and Slovak, founded the first Slovak women's journal Dennica, and went on to write plays and novels. She became widely known for her novel Sirota Podhradských which was deemed suitable for girls.
Early life and education
Terézia Medvecká was born with a twin brother in Zvolenská Slatina on 18 April 1857. She was the seventh child of Terézia and the Lutheran pastor Samuel Medvecký. After completing elementary school, she attended the private school of K. Orfanides in Banská Bystrica and that of T. Fábryová in Rimavská Sobota but like most girls of the times, she did not receive a gymnasium education. She nevertheless became fluent in German and Hungarian in addition to her native Slovak, thanks in part to her own voracious reading.
Poetry and editing
In 1875, on marrying the Lutheran pastor Ján Vansa, the couple moved to Lomnička where Vansová began writing poetry in both German and Slovak. Her first work Moje piesne was a rather awkward collection of poems in German but was followed with more mature verses published in the localKarpathenpost. From 1881, the couple lived in Píla where Vansová worked as a writer, organizer and editor. In 1895, she became associated with the Slovak women's association Živena, acting as vice-president and editing the Živena almanacs. In 1898, Vansová founded the first Slovak magazine for women, Dennica which she edited until 1914. It presented stories, poems and essays by women writers as well as articles on fashion, food, married life and the women's movementaround the world. With the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918, she edited Slovenská žena from 1920 to 1923, although she no longer considered it to be "her magazine" as Dennica had been.
Publications
As for her own publications, she is remembered mainly for her prose. In Prvotina, she parodied the romantic sentimentality of articles in the popular German magazines, of which she was sometimes guilty herself. Her short stories frequently addressed relationships in a world of prejudice, such as the marital problems in Rozsobášení, caused by misunderstandings and prejudice. In 1889, she published Sirota Podhradských, the first Slovak novel written by a woman. Its success stemmed from the psychological development of her characters, complex moral relationships, and a dramatic plot.
Later life
After her husband's suicide in 1922, Vansová continued to write and to help others with their writing. She died on 10 October 1943. Today Vansová is remembered for her romantic novels which were popular with schoolgirls for several decades but are no longer widely read. She also made a mark in the Slovak national movement. Although she was also active in the women's movement, her impact was less successful as the movement itself failed to make any real progress in Slovakia.
