‚The Mangy Cloak,‘ ‚The Naked Little Priest,‘ ‚The Kitchen Writer of the First Book in Bernolák’s Slovak,‘ or – since 1988, as it is known on its orbit – Asteroid 16435: Juraj Fándly. He travels through space, pleading for listeners in his own homeland. He wishes to address the Church, the sick and the poor, his own nation – a nation that would never have become one without him – his dear Slovak women and men who have yet to grow into being Slovaks. The nation remains out of reach, and the echo of Fándly’s efforts bounces off the teeth of four fate-spinners – witches telling tales about his decline and possible death.

On its journey across the starry sky, the asteroid FANDLY oversteps its own shadow – the shadow of a candle left on a long-forgotten grave in Ompitál. But which grave was Ďuro’s? This becomes an allegory for the potential end of the national revivalist destiny from 200 years ago, applied to what one might have thought was a completed Slovakia – a country where one cannot even manage to die properly.

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