Sartorial heroism and nation-building: Female cross-dressing in nineteenth-century Hungarian fiction (a case study)

Török, Zsuzsa (2016) Sartorial heroism and nation-building: Female cross-dressing in nineteenth-century Hungarian fiction (a case study). Hungarian Studies, 30 (1). pp. 73-87. ISSN 0236-6568

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Abstract

The article investigates the uses of the motif of the Warrior Women in János Arany’s epic poetry. The author of the article claims that the motif of the Warrior Women in Arany’s poetical discourse stemmed from the romantic literary tradition of the 1820–1830s. Furthermore, she argues that an old Scottish ballad, purportedly known by János Arany, provided the pattern that had been imitated by the Hungarian poet. Hence, the romantic image of the Hungarian Warrior Woman has become a highly symbolic and propagandistic content in Arany’s poetry during the 1850s. It reveals a genuine nineteenth-century endeavour of the nation-building process in order to promote the nation’s ready-to-fight patriotic women as models to be followed.

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