In the late 18th century, a national movement began in Slovakia, with the aim of fostering Slovak culture and identity. One of its leaders was Anton Bernolak, a Jesuit priest who codified a Slovak literary language based on dialects used in western Slovakia. In the 19th century, Protestant leaders Jan Kollar and Pavol Safarik developed a form of written Slovak that combined the dialects used in central Slovakia and the Czech lands. The linguist and Slovak nationalist Ludovit Stur, a contemporary of Kollar and Safarik's, rejected the Czech influence and set out to develop a more authentic literary Slovak; his language was adopted by a group of Slovak poets, whose work dealt largely with national Slovak themes. Poetry remained an important literary form into the 20th century, and was used by some Slovak writers to address the experience of World War II and the rise of Communism. During the Communist period, Slovak literary culture suffered from heavy governmental control. The works of Dominik Tatarka, Lubos Jurik, Martin Butora, Milan Simecka and Hana Ponicka were exceptions to the pattern of politically influenced works.
