Borbála Bökös - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Borbála Bökös
SGEM International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conferences on Social Sciences and Arts, Aug 20, 2018
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Dec 1, 2022
Travel narratives written in the mid-nineteenth century served as valuable sources of information... more Travel narratives written in the mid-nineteenth century served as valuable sources of information for the Western society regarding remote and exotic places as well as different cultures. Hungary and Transylvania became increasingly interesting and challenging destinations for British and American travellers, especially in the pre-and post-revolutionary periods. Julia Pardoe's The City of the Magyar, or Hungary and Her Institutions in 1839-1840 (1840) and Nina Elizabeth Mazuchelli's memoir, Magyarland (1881), provided extensive accounts of a multi-ethnic Hungary, discussing various populations as being distinct from the mainstream society, as well as their folklore, history, manners, and customs. In analysing Pardoe's and Mazuchelli's memoirs, I am interested in the ways in which they portray Hungarian otherness as contrasted to Western, more precisely British national ideals. Making use of the theories of imagology, I will argue that the perceptions of a national character (hetero-images) as well as the defining of the (travellers') self against the Other (auto-images) are determined and perpetuated by cultural distinctions and by the various forms of cultural clash of the British and the East-Central European. Moreover, through a comparative approach, I will also look at the differences in the travellers' perception of the same country but in two very different historical and political time periods: Pardoe's journey in Hungary took place in 1840, before the War of Independence, while Mazuchelli visited the country in 1881, long after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise in 1867. The findings will indicate that the main features of the image of Hungarian national identity, as it is represented in the travelogues, are generated by the historical, cultural, and socio-political developments before and after the Hungarian War of Independence (1848-49). 1
Dr. Zsolt Győri for their insightful criticism of my work while still in progress. Their breadth ... more Dr. Zsolt Győri for their insightful criticism of my work while still in progress. Their breadth of knowledge has been both humbling and inspiring. I am also grateful to Erika Kiss who has always assisted me in all of my problems arising from geographical distance. I wish to express special gratitude to Professor Werner Wolf for all those conversations we had related to the second chapter of my thesis. Most of all, I want to thank my parents and my friends for their encouragement, understanding, patience, and love throughout the many years of study. None of this would have been possible without their kindness and support. 12 I will use the term according to Stephen Heath's definition (84-86) that I will complement with my own understanding. I will elaborate on this concept in more detail in the second chapter. 13 Intermediality, in my view, is a concept that is continually reshaped, denoting a form of operation in progress. Certainly, the fields of "intermedia" are in need of discussion and extension, especially in terms of generating a coherent system that would provide a unified framework for all intermedial phenomena (such as audiovisual, digital, and so on).
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies, 2019
An (un)conventional encounter between humans and alien beings has long been one of the main thema... more An (un)conventional encounter between humans and alien beings has long been one of the main thematic preoccupations of the genre of science fiction. Such stories would thus include typical invasion narratives, as in the case of the three science fiction films I will discuss in the present paper: the Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956; Philip Kaufman, 1978; Abel Ferrara, 1993), The Host (Andrew Niccol, 2013), and Avatar (James Cameron, 2009). I will examine the films in relation to postcolonial theories, while attempting to look at the ways of revisiting one’s history and culture (both alien and human) in the films’ worlds that takes place in order to uncover and heal the violent effects of colonization. In my reading of the films I will shed light on the specific processes of identity formation (of an individual or a group), and the possibilities of individual and communal recuperation through memories, rites of passages, as well as hybridization. I will argue that the...
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica, 2017
Hungary was an important destination for British travelers in the nineteenth century, whose trave... more Hungary was an important destination for British travelers in the nineteenth century, whose travel accounts provide intriguing insights into the cultural and political climate of the period. John Paget’s journey was meticulously recorded in his extensive book entitled Hungary and Transylvania (1839) that served as a travel guide for other British visitors after him. Paget, who took part in the 1848/49 War of Independence, and became a “Hungarian,” opened Europe’s eyes to the Hungarian people and their country, destroying several false myths that existed about Hungarians in Western Europe, thus attempting to shape up a more favorable picture about them. The present paper examines a few questions regarding the representation of Hungary and of Transylvania in general in the travelogue: how did Paget describe particular cities and regions, the inhabitants, as well as their everyday life? I will attempt to look at the (changing) images of Hungary and Transylvania in Paget’s writing, as w...
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica
Travel narratives written in the mid-nineteenth century served as valuable sources of information... more Travel narratives written in the mid-nineteenth century served as valuable sources of information for the Western society regarding remote and exotic places as well as different cultures. Hungary and Transylvania became increasingly interesting and challenging destinations for British and American travellers, especially in the pre- and post-revolutionary periods. Julia Pardoe’s The City of the Magyar, or Hungary and Her Institutions in 1839–1840 (1840) and Nina Elizabeth Mazuchelli’s memoir, Magyarland (1881), provided extensive accounts of a multi-ethnic Hungary, discussing various populations as being distinct from the mainstream society, as well as their folklore, history, manners, and customs. In analysing Pardoe’s and Mazuchelli’s memoirs, I am interested in the ways in which they portray Hungarian otherness as contrasted to Western, more precisely British national ideals. Making use of the theories of imagology, I will argue that the perceptions of a national character (hetero...
Intermedialitás és narratív identitás Paul Auster műveiben Disszertációm a Paul Auster kánon eddi... more Intermedialitás és narratív identitás Paul Auster műveiben Disszertációm a Paul Auster kánon eddig még felderítetlen oldalát tűzte ki vizsgálatának tárgyául, azaz, a különféle médiumok közötti sokszínű intermediális aspektusok felfedését, rendszerezését, valamint ezeknek az austeri művekben (irodalmi szövegek, filmek, más művészekkel közös projektek) megjelenő narratív identitással kapcsolatos összefüggéseit. Dolgozatom elsősorban Auster válogatott műveit elemzi ilyen szempontból, ugyanakkor nem hagyja figyelmen kívül az amerikai szerző kritikai írásait sem. Auster szövegeinek intermediális olvasata egyrészt az adaptációk, másrészt a kép és a szöveg elméletei felől megközelíthető, miközben olyan kérdések válnak kutathatóvá, mint a vizuális elemek (reprezentációs technikák) hatása a narrációra, ezek szerepe az interaktív befogadói tevékenységben. Kutatásom két fő intermediális jelenség elemzésének nyomvonalán strukturálódik: intermediális utalások (individuális utalások, azaz valamel...
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica
Julia Pardoe, an English poet and historian, was among the first travel writers who described Hun... more Julia Pardoe, an English poet and historian, was among the first travel writers who described Hungary’s institutions and contributed to the shaping up of the nineteenth-century British image of Hungary In her book The City of the Magyar or Hungary and Her Institutions (1840), she thoroughly reported her experiences and observations regarding a country that, although being part of East-Central Europe, had not stirred the interest of the British public Pardoe’s narrative contravenes the patriarchal ideology of travel writing as well as the act of travelling per se as masculine preoccupations, while, in my view, it seeks to negotiate the gender norms of her age by adopting an equally acceptable colonialist perspective as well as a conventionally feminine, a gentlewoman’s narrative perspective on the page By making use of Andrew Hammond’s theory of “imagined colonialism,” I shall demonstrate that Pardoe’s text can be interpreted as a negotiation between the conflicting demands of the di...
Analyzing the motif of silent cinema the paper attempts to shed light on the numerous intermedial... more Analyzing the motif of silent cinema the paper attempts to shed light on the numerous intermedial references in Paul Auster’s The Book of Illusions. In the novel’s text the references to the cinematic medium involve a certain iconicity and imitation. The translation of effects occurs through the evocation and imitation of certain filmic techniques (zoom shots, fades, dissolves, and montage editing), and specifically through the insertion of filmscripts, which, in their turn propel the characters’ (narrative) identity construction.
This book is an examination of an unexplored facet of the Paul Auster canon, as it will discuss t... more This book is an examination of an unexplored facet of the Paul Auster canon, as it will discuss the aspects of intermediation between different media forms, in relation to the formation of narrative identity in this author’s works such as literary texts, films, and collaborative projects. It will offer an intermedial reading of Auster’s various texts through theories of adaptation as well as theories of image and text, also seeking to discuss the ways in which the visual elements affect storytelling in Auster’s fiction and stimulate an interactive reader engagement. The book begins with a firm theoretical basis for a study of intermediality in Auster’s oeuvre, shaping up new concepts in intermedia studies, such as: heterotopic intermediality, palimpsestuous intermediality, metaintertextual metaintermediality, as well as the intermedial suture. The chapters are organized around these notions while discussing Auster’s and his fellow artists’ works: Smoke, The Book of Illusions, The In...
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies, 2019
An (un)conventional encounter between humans and alien beings has long been one of the main them... more An (un)conventional encounter between humans and alien beings has long been one of the main thematic preoccupations of the genre of science fiction. Such stories would thus include typical invasion narratives, as in the case of the three science fiction films I will discuss in the present paper: the Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956; Philip Kaufman, 1978; Abel Ferrara, 1993), The Host (Andrew Niccol, 2013), and Avatar (James Cameron, 2009). I will examine the films in relation to postcolonial theories, while attempting to look at the ways of revisiting one’s history and culture (both alien and human) in the films’ worlds that takes place in order to uncover and heal the violent effects of colonization. In my reading of the films I will shed light on the specific processes of identity formation (of an individual or a group), and the possibilities of individual and communal recuperation through memories, rites of passages, as well as hybridization. I will argue that the colonized human or alien body can serve either as a mediator between the two cultures, or as an agent which fundamentally distances two separate civilizations, thus irrevocably bringing about the loss of identity, as well as the lack of comprehension of cultural differences.
SGEM International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conferences on Social Sciences and Arts, Aug 20, 2018
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Dec 1, 2022
Travel narratives written in the mid-nineteenth century served as valuable sources of information... more Travel narratives written in the mid-nineteenth century served as valuable sources of information for the Western society regarding remote and exotic places as well as different cultures. Hungary and Transylvania became increasingly interesting and challenging destinations for British and American travellers, especially in the pre-and post-revolutionary periods. Julia Pardoe's The City of the Magyar, or Hungary and Her Institutions in 1839-1840 (1840) and Nina Elizabeth Mazuchelli's memoir, Magyarland (1881), provided extensive accounts of a multi-ethnic Hungary, discussing various populations as being distinct from the mainstream society, as well as their folklore, history, manners, and customs. In analysing Pardoe's and Mazuchelli's memoirs, I am interested in the ways in which they portray Hungarian otherness as contrasted to Western, more precisely British national ideals. Making use of the theories of imagology, I will argue that the perceptions of a national character (hetero-images) as well as the defining of the (travellers') self against the Other (auto-images) are determined and perpetuated by cultural distinctions and by the various forms of cultural clash of the British and the East-Central European. Moreover, through a comparative approach, I will also look at the differences in the travellers' perception of the same country but in two very different historical and political time periods: Pardoe's journey in Hungary took place in 1840, before the War of Independence, while Mazuchelli visited the country in 1881, long after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise in 1867. The findings will indicate that the main features of the image of Hungarian national identity, as it is represented in the travelogues, are generated by the historical, cultural, and socio-political developments before and after the Hungarian War of Independence (1848-49). 1
Dr. Zsolt Győri for their insightful criticism of my work while still in progress. Their breadth ... more Dr. Zsolt Győri for their insightful criticism of my work while still in progress. Their breadth of knowledge has been both humbling and inspiring. I am also grateful to Erika Kiss who has always assisted me in all of my problems arising from geographical distance. I wish to express special gratitude to Professor Werner Wolf for all those conversations we had related to the second chapter of my thesis. Most of all, I want to thank my parents and my friends for their encouragement, understanding, patience, and love throughout the many years of study. None of this would have been possible without their kindness and support. 12 I will use the term according to Stephen Heath's definition (84-86) that I will complement with my own understanding. I will elaborate on this concept in more detail in the second chapter. 13 Intermediality, in my view, is a concept that is continually reshaped, denoting a form of operation in progress. Certainly, the fields of "intermedia" are in need of discussion and extension, especially in terms of generating a coherent system that would provide a unified framework for all intermedial phenomena (such as audiovisual, digital, and so on).
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies, 2019
An (un)conventional encounter between humans and alien beings has long been one of the main thema... more An (un)conventional encounter between humans and alien beings has long been one of the main thematic preoccupations of the genre of science fiction. Such stories would thus include typical invasion narratives, as in the case of the three science fiction films I will discuss in the present paper: the Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956; Philip Kaufman, 1978; Abel Ferrara, 1993), The Host (Andrew Niccol, 2013), and Avatar (James Cameron, 2009). I will examine the films in relation to postcolonial theories, while attempting to look at the ways of revisiting one’s history and culture (both alien and human) in the films’ worlds that takes place in order to uncover and heal the violent effects of colonization. In my reading of the films I will shed light on the specific processes of identity formation (of an individual or a group), and the possibilities of individual and communal recuperation through memories, rites of passages, as well as hybridization. I will argue that the...
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica, 2017
Hungary was an important destination for British travelers in the nineteenth century, whose trave... more Hungary was an important destination for British travelers in the nineteenth century, whose travel accounts provide intriguing insights into the cultural and political climate of the period. John Paget’s journey was meticulously recorded in his extensive book entitled Hungary and Transylvania (1839) that served as a travel guide for other British visitors after him. Paget, who took part in the 1848/49 War of Independence, and became a “Hungarian,” opened Europe’s eyes to the Hungarian people and their country, destroying several false myths that existed about Hungarians in Western Europe, thus attempting to shape up a more favorable picture about them. The present paper examines a few questions regarding the representation of Hungary and of Transylvania in general in the travelogue: how did Paget describe particular cities and regions, the inhabitants, as well as their everyday life? I will attempt to look at the (changing) images of Hungary and Transylvania in Paget’s writing, as w...
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica
Travel narratives written in the mid-nineteenth century served as valuable sources of information... more Travel narratives written in the mid-nineteenth century served as valuable sources of information for the Western society regarding remote and exotic places as well as different cultures. Hungary and Transylvania became increasingly interesting and challenging destinations for British and American travellers, especially in the pre- and post-revolutionary periods. Julia Pardoe’s The City of the Magyar, or Hungary and Her Institutions in 1839–1840 (1840) and Nina Elizabeth Mazuchelli’s memoir, Magyarland (1881), provided extensive accounts of a multi-ethnic Hungary, discussing various populations as being distinct from the mainstream society, as well as their folklore, history, manners, and customs. In analysing Pardoe’s and Mazuchelli’s memoirs, I am interested in the ways in which they portray Hungarian otherness as contrasted to Western, more precisely British national ideals. Making use of the theories of imagology, I will argue that the perceptions of a national character (hetero...
Intermedialitás és narratív identitás Paul Auster műveiben Disszertációm a Paul Auster kánon eddi... more Intermedialitás és narratív identitás Paul Auster műveiben Disszertációm a Paul Auster kánon eddig még felderítetlen oldalát tűzte ki vizsgálatának tárgyául, azaz, a különféle médiumok közötti sokszínű intermediális aspektusok felfedését, rendszerezését, valamint ezeknek az austeri művekben (irodalmi szövegek, filmek, más művészekkel közös projektek) megjelenő narratív identitással kapcsolatos összefüggéseit. Dolgozatom elsősorban Auster válogatott műveit elemzi ilyen szempontból, ugyanakkor nem hagyja figyelmen kívül az amerikai szerző kritikai írásait sem. Auster szövegeinek intermediális olvasata egyrészt az adaptációk, másrészt a kép és a szöveg elméletei felől megközelíthető, miközben olyan kérdések válnak kutathatóvá, mint a vizuális elemek (reprezentációs technikák) hatása a narrációra, ezek szerepe az interaktív befogadói tevékenységben. Kutatásom két fő intermediális jelenség elemzésének nyomvonalán strukturálódik: intermediális utalások (individuális utalások, azaz valamel...
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica
Julia Pardoe, an English poet and historian, was among the first travel writers who described Hun... more Julia Pardoe, an English poet and historian, was among the first travel writers who described Hungary’s institutions and contributed to the shaping up of the nineteenth-century British image of Hungary In her book The City of the Magyar or Hungary and Her Institutions (1840), she thoroughly reported her experiences and observations regarding a country that, although being part of East-Central Europe, had not stirred the interest of the British public Pardoe’s narrative contravenes the patriarchal ideology of travel writing as well as the act of travelling per se as masculine preoccupations, while, in my view, it seeks to negotiate the gender norms of her age by adopting an equally acceptable colonialist perspective as well as a conventionally feminine, a gentlewoman’s narrative perspective on the page By making use of Andrew Hammond’s theory of “imagined colonialism,” I shall demonstrate that Pardoe’s text can be interpreted as a negotiation between the conflicting demands of the di...
Analyzing the motif of silent cinema the paper attempts to shed light on the numerous intermedial... more Analyzing the motif of silent cinema the paper attempts to shed light on the numerous intermedial references in Paul Auster’s The Book of Illusions. In the novel’s text the references to the cinematic medium involve a certain iconicity and imitation. The translation of effects occurs through the evocation and imitation of certain filmic techniques (zoom shots, fades, dissolves, and montage editing), and specifically through the insertion of filmscripts, which, in their turn propel the characters’ (narrative) identity construction.
This book is an examination of an unexplored facet of the Paul Auster canon, as it will discuss t... more This book is an examination of an unexplored facet of the Paul Auster canon, as it will discuss the aspects of intermediation between different media forms, in relation to the formation of narrative identity in this author’s works such as literary texts, films, and collaborative projects. It will offer an intermedial reading of Auster’s various texts through theories of adaptation as well as theories of image and text, also seeking to discuss the ways in which the visual elements affect storytelling in Auster’s fiction and stimulate an interactive reader engagement. The book begins with a firm theoretical basis for a study of intermediality in Auster’s oeuvre, shaping up new concepts in intermedia studies, such as: heterotopic intermediality, palimpsestuous intermediality, metaintertextual metaintermediality, as well as the intermedial suture. The chapters are organized around these notions while discussing Auster’s and his fellow artists’ works: Smoke, The Book of Illusions, The In...
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies, 2019
An (un)conventional encounter between humans and alien beings has long been one of the main them... more An (un)conventional encounter between humans and alien beings has long been one of the main thematic preoccupations of the genre of science fiction. Such stories would thus include typical invasion narratives, as in the case of the three science fiction films I will discuss in the present paper: the Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956; Philip Kaufman, 1978; Abel Ferrara, 1993), The Host (Andrew Niccol, 2013), and Avatar (James Cameron, 2009). I will examine the films in relation to postcolonial theories, while attempting to look at the ways of revisiting one’s history and culture (both alien and human) in the films’ worlds that takes place in order to uncover and heal the violent effects of colonization. In my reading of the films I will shed light on the specific processes of identity formation (of an individual or a group), and the possibilities of individual and communal recuperation through memories, rites of passages, as well as hybridization. I will argue that the colonized human or alien body can serve either as a mediator between the two cultures, or as an agent which fundamentally distances two separate civilizations, thus irrevocably bringing about the loss of identity, as well as the lack of comprehension of cultural differences.