IDENTITY NARRATIVES IN THE PROSE WORKS OF CONTEMPORARY WRITERS OF HUNGARIAN ORIGIN

Abstract

The study tackles two phenomena: translingualism and transculturalism. Both of them are closely connected to literature written by women writers of Hungarian origin living outside of Hungary. The first one refers to the situation when a (woman)writer “rejects” her mother tongue, and starts writing in the language of the place she is living in. The second phenomenon refers to instances where the works of the above mentioned writers create a space in which the two cultures meet together. This can be equally observed on the levels of the plot, narration and linguistic and stylistic solutions used by the authors. Studying identity narratives in works by Agota Kristof, Melinda Nadj Abonyi and Ilma Rakusa, the paper presents characteristic features of translingualism and transculturalism.