ACTA UNIVERSITATIS SAPIENTIAE, PHILOLOGICA, 8, 3 (2016) 177–179 DOI: 10.1515/ausp-2016-0040 Variants of Identity – Identity in Change Erzsébet Dani: Identitásgyarmatosítás Erdélyben. Identitásdrámák és interkulturális stratégiák a Trianon utáni székelymagyar irodalomban [Colonization of Identity in Transylvania. Dramas of Identity and Intercultural Communication in Székely- Hungarian Literature after Trianon] Pro-Print Publishing House, Miercurea-Ciuc, 2016 Review by: Katalin LAJOS Sapientia University Faculty of Economics, Socio-Human Sciences and Engineering, Miercurea-Ciuc, Department of Human Sciences
[email protected] Erzsébet Dani’s volume represents an interesting approach to twelve novels written by eight Hungarian writers between the two world wars . It is interesting from more points of view . First of all, the chosen novels have some common particularities: most of them are written by “Székely”-Hungarians who were born in the eastern part of Transylvania, a region which was detached from Hungary and attached to Romania according to the terms of the Treaty of Trianon following World War I, in 1920 . The second similarity is the main topic of the chosen novels: how the characters can (or cannot) manage their identity in a new socio-political context, when a new state authority tries by all means to “integrate” them into a new national identity . Secondly, it is an interesting study due to the interdisciplinary approach to the subject: it fructifies the terminology and the conclusions of a wide range of social sciences in the interpretation of the types of identities and the strategies of the characters to manage their identity . It uses the theoretical background of the assimilation theories, the theory of colonialism-postcolonialism, various theories of identity, the theories related to the study of cultural memory, communication, and intercultural communication .