Seite 424 [424]
OCR
NOBLE AND BOURGEOIS VALUES IN HUNGARIAN LITERATURE character. Ihis assimilation-based approach placed significant value on the concept of tradition, and on the importance of social groups that were seen as embodying the traditional Hungarian way of life and attitude to life. Ultimately, this approach led to the survival of the identification of noble culture and the Hungarian mentality. In the Romantic era, in keeping with the cult of nature, the figure of the Hungarian peasant emerges as another representative of the Hungarian character. This change in cultural approach is without doubt related to the concept of giving up the prerogatives of birth, and to the concept of liberalism. However, it should be borne in mind that these two embodiments of the national character are not in fact alternative interpretations of identity in the Romantic Age, but merely variations of the same attitude. In the latter approach, the “people” in fact represent the same values as the nobility, in a naive form. In the patriarchal approach of the 19" century, the relationship between landlord and serf (and later between gentleman and peasant) was defined using the analogy of the family. This approach can be interpreted as an extension of the noble attitude, as it cast the peasant in the role of a child in need of benevolent paternal guidance. A significant change takes place in literary depictions of the peasant at the turn of the century. In the prose of Zsigmond Moricz, the relationship between the landowner and the poor peasant is typically presented in the form of an irreconcilable conflict, where the earlier patriarchal world becomes the backdrop for passionate anger. Prompted by naturalism, as well as by the relatively distant Romanticism, or by Expressionism interpreted from the perspective of Romanticism, the peasant appeared as either a struggling, exploited figure, or as a mythical character personifying the power of nature. If we turn our attention to those works of literature that directly thematize the nature of Hungarian identity, we find that most of the texts are characterized by a confrontation between the noble and the bourgeois mentality, while in the case of texts that do not directly address the issue, but merely imply related assumptions, the noble and bourgeois value systems are often merged. This peculiar duality can probably be explained by the fact that texts directly dealing with the issue of Hungarian identity typically represent a more traditional stance by default. In other words, the centralized problem of national identity, as an explicitly formulated question, was dominated, by default, by the concept of the single political nation. It was as if the compromise that characterized Hungarian social relations were reflected in literature. Accordingly, only the traditional Hungarian ruling classes could have political power, while the bourgeoisie had to be satisfied with economic power. Members of the upper middle class, or high bourgeoisie, could only become political figures if they assimilated, in terms of lifestyle and values, to the historical ruling class — or, better still, if they purchased a noble title. «423 +
