Page 416 [416]
NATIONAL IDENTITY AS A LITERARY QUESTION
by those who are rooted in Hungarian culture. This information bearing
capacity differs from that of Western Europe, in that it contains immanent
information, but exclusively for a community with the same national memory
and consciousness. This particular feature may be interpreted with the help
of “thick description”, a term coined by Clifford Geertz.” Thick description
provides both a description and an interpretation of the past, for the Hungarian
anecdote includes interpretative procedures and sympathies, too. It comprises
a historical text that is not intended to reveal anything, but rather prides itself
on its partiality. This characteristic, relying on our background knowledge of
national history, evokes a community spirit and urges us to read with a sense of
national identity at the forefront.
This historically-induced special relationship is illustrated in the following
well-known anecdote from Béla Toth’s collection, entitled The Most Appro¬
priate Solution:
The emperor, Frances Joseph was to travel to Pest.
Officials in charge did their best to make the reception as magnificant as possible.
Baron Antal Augusz, the governor, requested Baron Jözsef Eötvös to help him with
a good idea for the reception. It shouldn’t cost too much, but it should surprise His
Majesty and delight the people.
Eötvös shrugged and said unwillingly:
— Ihave no idea.
After a while, however, he began.
— Perhaps there is something...
Augusz, his eyes radiant with joy, urged him:
— Go ahead!
— His Majesty will be riding across the bridge.
— That’s correct.
— So, on those two poles on the abutment...
— What about them?
— Well, get Protmann hanged from one of them and get yourself hanged from
the other. The cost will be modest, His Majesty will be surprised, and the people
will be happy.
With this he took his hat and left.
Clifford Geertz: Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture, in The
Interpretation of Cultures. Selected Essays, New York, Basic Books, 1973; Stephen Greenblatt
similarly interpreted the anecdote as an adequate narrative manifestation in order to reflect
reality. He, however, did not take into consideration Hungarian cultural tradition, which
encourages collective affirmation when creating sensible utterences. (Stephen Greenblatt:
The Touch of the Real, in Catherine Gallagher — Stephen Greenblatt: Practising New
Historicism, Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press, 2001, 21-30.)
* 415 +