Hungary and Transylvania in Women’s Travel Writing in the 19th Century

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 Ameri...

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Main Author: Borbála Bökös
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Scientia Publishing House 2022-12-01
Series:Acta Universitatis Sapientiae: Philologica
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Online Access:https://acta.sapientia.ro/content/docs/143-07.pdf
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author Borbála Bökös
author_facet Borbála Bökös
author_sort Borbála Bökös
collection DOAJ
description 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).
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spelling doaj-art-bbf112401b724d728aef952e49e6ec9d2025-08-20T01:57:59ZdeuScientia Publishing HouseActa Universitatis Sapientiae: Philologica2067-51512068-29562022-12-0114310712610.2478/ausp-2022-0028Hungary and Transylvania in Women’s Travel Writing in the 19th CenturyBorbála Bökös0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3949-0820Partium Christian University 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).https://acta.sapientia.ro/content/docs/143-07.pdftravel writinghistorical time19th-century hungary and transylvaniaotherness
spellingShingle Borbála Bökös
Hungary and Transylvania in Women’s Travel Writing in the 19th Century
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae: Philologica
travel writing
historical time
19th-century hungary and transylvania
otherness
title Hungary and Transylvania in Women’s Travel Writing in the 19th Century
title_full Hungary and Transylvania in Women’s Travel Writing in the 19th Century
title_fullStr Hungary and Transylvania in Women’s Travel Writing in the 19th Century
title_full_unstemmed Hungary and Transylvania in Women’s Travel Writing in the 19th Century
title_short Hungary and Transylvania in Women’s Travel Writing in the 19th Century
title_sort hungary and transylvania in women s travel writing in the 19th century
topic travel writing
historical time
19th-century hungary and transylvania
otherness
url https://acta.sapientia.ro/content/docs/143-07.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT borbalabokos hungaryandtransylvaniainwomenstravelwritinginthe19thcentury