Milan Kundera’s success in the 1980s was partly due to his essays, which critiqued Cold War-era Europe from both east and west and helped revive the concept of Central Europe. He was one of three Czech writers to win Slovenia’s Vilenica Prize in the first eight years of its existence, along with Jan Skácel and the Czech-German Libuše Moníková. Following the award granted to Pavel Vilikovský (the only Slovak laureate to date) in 1997, Czech and Slovak writers did not win the Vilenica for nearly twenty years until Jáchym Topol’s prize in 2015. This article examines these Czech and Slovak writers as both novelists and critics of the late socialist period, reflecting the historical experience of a region of small nations surrounded by global powers. Uspehu Milana Kundere osamdesetih godina 20. veka jednim delom doprineli su eseji u kojima je autor, kako s tačke gledišta Istoka tako i Zapada, izložio kritiku Evrope iz vremena Hladnog rata, čime je podstakao oživljavanje pojma Centralne Evrope. U prvih osam godina otkako je ustanovljena slovenačka nagrada Vilenica, Kundera je bio jedan od troje čeških laureata, uz Jana Skacela i češko-nemačku autorku Libušu Monikovu. Nakon 1997. godine, kada je nagrada dodeljena Pavlu Vilikovskom (jedinom slovačkom laureatu do danas), gotovo dvadeset godina nijedan češki ili slovački autor nije osvojio Vilenicu, sve do 2015. godine kada je Jahim Topol proglašen za dobitnika. U ovom radu analiziraju se pomenuti češki i slovački pisci kao romanopisci i kritičari kasnog socijalističkog perioda čije delo odražava istorijsko iskustvo regije malih naroda okruženih velikim svetskim silama.
