This volume presents the first translation of the noted Slovak text Rene, or: A Young Man's Adventures and Experiences by Jozef Ignac Bajza. The text is widely considered to be the first Slovak novel and its author is viewed today as not only the pioneer of the Slovak novel and the idea of a unified Slovak language, but also one of the significant figures of the Slovak National Revival (1780-1850), which was the cultural and political emancipation movement behind the formation of the Slovak nation as a modern political entity. The volume includes the translation, completed by David Short, as well as in-depth footnotes and commentary on the significance of Bazja's work within a wider European context in the eighteenth-century. To that end, this volume demonstrates that the rise of the novel in Europe was a contingent and discontinuous process, much more varied than the Anglocentric perspective would have it, and suggests directions towards a more inclusive history of the European novel.