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ALEXANDRA M. SZABO
technique of identification. I demonstrate how the novels assume the truth of
corporeal differentiation between Jewish and non-Jewish in the contemporary
understanding of interwar Hungary.
Keywords: Béla Zsolt, Jewish identity representation, literary representations,
narrative techniques, Jewish inconvenience, the Jewish body
The Jew is one whom other men consider a Jew: that is the simple truth from
which we must start. — Jean Paul Sartre
Béla Zsolt, Hungarian poet, writer and journalist, was born in Komärom
at the end of the 19" century, in the empire of the Austro-Hungarian
Monarchy. Due to the hasty jumps in political situations, national identity
was a constantly changing construction in the region and typical of the
era. Therefore, not surprisingly, Zsolt’s significant life events occur in the
course of historical changes, which directly point at his ideological turns.
I will discuss these points on an introductory level, as it well help in the
understanding of his (change of) thought, which he dedicated not only his
career, but his life to. Subsequently, I will be mainly concentrating on his
projections of contemporary social problems in the interwar period, most
significantly of the anti-Jewish atmosphere and its consequences. In order
to bring the issue of Hungarian anti-Semitism into public discourse, Zsolt
exploited the forms of prose and journalistic pieces, leaving poetry somewhat
behind.’ I will base my reasoning on four of his novels in order to outline
the role and importance of Jewish identity and identification represented
in them. I will analyze three main identification techniques used in the
selected works: narrative positions, the inconvenience of the Jewish identity,
and the representation of the Jewish body. Rereading and reviewing Zsolt’s
work not only helps us in understanding the interpretation of the “Jewish
Question” from another viewpoint, but opens up operative and ontological
dimensions in the understanding of the construction of the Jewish identity
and identification on a micro-level.
At a young age, presumably due to some family problems, Zsolt found
himself strongly believing in and thus following the ideology of Hungarian
nationalism. His view on the importance of the Hungarian national identity
“Now you can see (...) that I couldn’t stick to poems. (...) You do think I am right when I say I
cannot do it any other way, don’t you? When bombs, stink bombs, Jew beatings, underworld
maneuvers bring the subject matter, it is very hard to write poems! The era, this age forces
me not to use my pen to write poetry, but for a weapon.” Quoted by Clara Royer in her study
published not only in French, but Hungarian: Clara Royer: A VI. és VII. keriiletpublicistaja?
Zsolt Béla elkötelezett magyarsága, Múlt és Jövő, No.2, 2015, 82.
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