The Witty Seven: Late Socialist-Capitalist Satire in Hungary (original) (raw)
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The poetics of subversion: irony and the central European novel
2010
OF THE DISSERTATION The Poetics of Subversion: Irony and the Central European Novel By JOSHUA PATRICK BEALL Dissertation Director: Jerry Aline Flieger The literatures of Central Europe’s small countries were seriously engaged in the national project during the nineteenth century, standardizing and exemplifying both the national language and national heroes. However, the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918 produced a new ironic consciousness in the literatures of the newlyindependent Central European nations. Surprisingly, at a time when the peoples of Central Europe achieved national self-determination, their literatures began using irony to call nation and nationalism into question. Novels such as Jaroslav Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk, Robert Musil’s The Man without Qualities, Witold Gombrowicz’s TransAtlantyk, and Milan Kundera’s The Book of Laughter and Forgetting criticize the national project, its cultural manifestations, and its effect on modern subjectivity. The ...
ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Poetics of Subversion: Irony and the Central European Novel
2010
Serrano for their emotional support. They strongly encouraged me to persevere in my studies despite several setbacks. My initial interest in Central European literature was piqued by courses taught by Dr. Katarzyna Jerzak and Dr. Mihai Spariosu at the University of Georgia. I am also indebted to Jaroslava Saldonová, who taught me Czech at the University of Washington during the 1999-2000 academic year. Finally, I want to thank my fellow graduate students at Rutgers, from both Comparative Literature and other disciplines. Extended conversations with Dr. Geoffrey Baker and Dr. Chadley Loewen-Schmidt, as we drove to and from numerous conferences, allowed me to flesh out my project and talk through the jumbled ideas floating in my head. Dr. Aaron Keck, Dr. Jennifer Miller, and Dr. Christopher Rivera all read multiple drafts of early chapters and provided invaluable feedback. I also owe thanks to Monica Filimon for co-chairing a panel on East-Central European literature with me at the 2009 American Comparative Literature Association Conference, and to Jennifer MacBryan for providing extensive commentary on my introduction. iv DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, who never (openly) questioned my decision to pursue graduate study. This dissertation is also dedicated to my fiancée Bénédicte Lebéhot. You are the light of my life, and I couldn't have done it without you! v vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv Dedication v Table of Contents vi 1. Introduction 2. Prosaic Irony: Structure, Mode, and Subversion in Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Švejk 63 3. The Center Cannot Hold: Irony and Schizoid Politics in Robert Musil's The Man without Qualities 4. "The Second Time as Farce:" The Irony of Displacement in Witold Gombrowicz's Trans-Atlantyk 5. Variations on a European Theme: Milan Kundera's The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Conclusion 290 Bibliography 298 Curriculum Vitae
Intertextual irony and humour in Romanian postmodern literature
Humour and Culture 5: Romanian Humour, ed. by M.V. Constantinescu, S. Măda, and R. Săftoiu Tertium Society for the Promotion of Language Studies, Kraków 2020
The present chapter investigates the relationship between intertextual irony and humour in literary fiction. Two representative Romanian postmodern texts are analysed, namely Mircea Horia Simionescu's Onomasticon [Dicționarul onomastic], and The General Bibliography [Bibliografia generală], which are included in the tetralogy The Well Tempered Wise Guy [Ingeniosul bine temperat]. Taking into account the most influential theories of verbal humour, as well as the pragmatic theories of verbal irony, the chapter illustrates how the writer can create humorous and ironical effects by exploiting the common knowledge and cultural encyclopaedia of the reader. The chapter also highlights the complex functions of irony and humour during the totalitarian communist regime, when literature had not only aesthetic purposes, but developed elaborated forms of subversive opposition and criticism against ideological and political constraints.
ISTRAŽIVANJA, JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL RESEARCHES, 2020
This paper aims to present a comparative analysis of caricatures published in Hungarian (Üstökös, Borsszem Jankó), Serbian (Bič, Vrač pogađač), Romanian (Gur'a Satului), and Slovak (Černokňažník) satirical press in Hungary in the second half of the nineteenth century. The depth of the connection between identity, nation building, and humour will be demonstrated. Theories of nationalism often emphasise the primacy of the role of the press and of print media in nation building processes. To investigate this, humorous printed sources have been selected. The comparison utilises and complements Anthony D. Smith's definition of the ethnic core and reflects on Christie Davies' theory of ethnic humour. Tethered by these concepts, the analysis of the caricatures investigates the following aspects: names for the Self and the Other, elements of culture and tradition (languages, habits, religions, supposed characteristics, clothing and bodily features), symbols of the Self and the Other, historical memories and myths of the common ancestry of the Self and the Other, and the definitions of "our" vs. "their" territory and homeland. This analysis reveals that the stereotypes observed in satirical magazines and the images of the Other and of the Self depicted through the use of humorous or ironic techniques can be effectively distinguished and connected to the nation building process and to the process of shaping "enemies".
Humour and Irony as research objects and as parts of everyday discourse in Russia
Fundamentalʹnaâ lingvistika, 2023
The paper addresses the issues of humour and irony research by Russian scholars and the functioning of humour and irony in everyday interaction. The aim of the paper is twofold: firstly, it presents an overview of humour and irony research in modern Russian linguistics, anthropology, ethics and literary studies. Secondly, it describes functioning of humour and irony in Russian everyday spoken, written and computer-mediated modes of discourse to demonstrate the variety of their forms and conveyed social implications.
Irony as a Political Demarcation Tool of the New Russian Nationalists
Changing Societies & Personalities , 2020
The article discusses how and why the new nationalists, who call for political self-determination of Russians but share some ideological concepts with liberals, use stiob-form of ironic parody based on overidentification and decontextualisation, resulting in destruction of the authoritative discourse. Their entertaining, or educational-cum-entertaining projects located in the gray area between politics and counterculture strive to undermine domineering political discourses (liberal, neo-Soviet, leftist, official patriotic and old nationalist) and to go beyond the left-right dichotomy. The author concludes that the main function of stiob and other forms of irony for the new nationalists is negative identification. Ambivalence of the language of stiob simultaneously attracts the target audience of nationalists ("those in the know") and does not prevent solidarizing with any political platform when needed. The article is based on qualitative analysis of narratives produced by nationalist social media influencers, including fiction, essays, talks, lectures, interviews, live broadcasts, posts in blogs, social networks and messengers.
Election campaign tools in Hungarian humour magazines in the second half of the 19th century
In my research paper I examine the first two election campaigns in Hungary following the Austro-Hungarian Compromise (1867). In particular, I analyse the ways the campaigns employed tools of humour in popular press products of the time, such as caricatures and texts in humour magazines (Ludas Matyi ['Mattie the Goose-Boy'], Az Üstökös ['The Comet'], Borsszem Jankó ['Johnny Peppercorn']), which were considered effective political weapons by contemporaries. After a history-oriented introduction devoted to illustrating the much-debated content of the Compromise, the election system and the historical significance of the analysed papers, I categorize caricatures and the humorous or satirical texts related to the election of parliamentarians along the lines of the following aspects: (1) attacks against specific people, (2) standing up against the principles and political symbols of the opponent, (3) listing well-known, everyday antitheses , (4) standing up against the press of the opponent, (5) judgment of the role of the Jewish, (6) war metaphors, (7) critique of the campaign methods of the opponent. My goal is to reveal what tools were used to ridicule political opponents, how parties were described to (potential) voters, how the parties tried to promote voting and convince people of their points of view. The analysed texts clearly depict the division of the Hungarian society (either supporting or rejecting the Compromise), and also document that the political tones became coarser and coarser, even in this humorous genre. During campaigns, the topic of elections took over the humour magazines, which serves as evidence for the intensity of public interest.