Questions of Language and Culture in Erzsébet Juhász’s Border Novel

The paper gives an account of the linguistic and cultural questions dealt with by Erzsébet Juhász in her novel Határregény [Border Novel]. It attempts to interpret the novel and to present the relations of its heroes to their environment. The narration covers the areas in which cultural and ethnic diversity, as well as linguistic colourfulness are present due to the coexistence of different nations. The novel’s central theme is spatial separation and separation evoked by political borders; the concept of border is introduced as early as in the novel’s title. The story of the Patarcsics is an inter-generational family story. Its members are characterized as people struggling with identity crisis and the uncertainty of national belonging. Wartime events, the behaviour and the way of thinking of families torn apart by border changes-with the mentality becoming the legacy of the next generation-are perfect reflections, illustrations of changes forced upon human lives pushed to the periphery. Not only identity and language loss, language replacement but introversion, seclusion and distantiation can also be observed at some characters. The work is exposing ruptures created by wars, and how these ruptures transform identity and cultural heritage, only to show us later how a new culture and mentality are created.