Representation of national identity in successful historical novels

János László, Orsolya Vincze and Ildikó Kõváriné Somogyvári

University of Pécs, Institute of Psychology

Abstract

Study of aesthetic success is one of the core topics in empirical aesthetics (Martindale, 1990; Simonton, 1986; Petrov, 1992). Instead of going into complexities of what makes aesthetic objects permanently or temporarily successful, this study outlines a hypothesis which, in accord with Vygotsky (1971), claims that aesthetic success partly depends on the object’s capacity of fulfilling social needs. More specifically, it is assumed that successful historical novels represent an almost ritual history of a national group in a subtle way, thereby providing generations of their readers with historical continuity and a sense of positive identity. By analysing the two most successful Hungarian historical novels, the study identifies social psychological patterns of narrative composition, which seem to be more or less general at least for Western civilisation. Results also reflect some idealised features of the Hungarian national identity.

The need for common understanding of the world

According to Moscovici (1961) the process - and the symbolic entity created by this process - by which a group establishes its universe of meaningful things is called social representation. Social representations come into existence in communication within the group. Group communication shapes and transmits them. By this process, group members come to share them. The group not only produces social representations but also determines the connections made by its members between representations, i.e. it limits the freedom of association and prescribes an approach characteristic for the group by which it can distinguish itself from other groups (Breakwell, 1993.) Thus, beyond the symbolic functions necessary to cope with the group’s environment, social representations also have identity constituting functions.

Identity and narratives

Social representations often appear in narrative forms. Sperber (1990) and Rubin (1995) with reference to rites and oral tradition both talk about the cognitive economy and powerfulness of narrative forms. Ricoeur (1984-85) emphasises the analogies of human experience and narrative. He also assigns a central role to narrative in the construction of human identity. The narrative organisation is especially characteristic for the preservation and transformation of representations about the past and the history of the group. These narratives secure the historicity and continuity of the group and of its members Bruner and Fleischer-Feldman, 1996; László, 1997; László, Ehmann and Imre, 2002; László and Stainton Rogers, 2002). Assmann (1992) studied the connection between narration and identity from the aspect of memory. He claims that each group has to form the culture of remembering, which is necessary for the group to make his identity continuous. Each culture creates its connective structure, i.e. a kind of common field for experience and action, in which experiences become later memories connecting present and future.

Communicative and cultural forms of social memory

By distinguishing communicative and cultural forms of memory Assmann (1992) provides insight into the formation of connective structures. The communicative form of memory, by which the group members preserve their collective experiences through active communication, is strictly time-bound. This form of memory evolves in time and disappears with its bearers. It takes about forty years until communicative memory perseveres. Then it will be replaced by symbolic representations of the past, i.e. forms of cultural memory. Cultural memory has the task of conserving the past in the form of objectified patterns.

Fictionality and cultural memory

In archaic societies, repetitive rites conserved tradition. In African tribal societies there still exists the role of griots, i.e., ritual singers, who on particular occasions perform the history-rites of the tribe accompanied by singing and music, i.e., in a highly artistic form. It means that in these societies there is no sharp demarcation between “fiction” and “historical facts”. In literate societies conserving the past in cultural memory has been done by canonical texts. These texts are produced by professional chroniclers or historians, as well as writers. Although literacy has contributed significantly to deepening the gap between the factual past and fictionality, fictional historical narratives still have the capacity to canonise and transmit cultural memories. Historical novels are literary works that have familiar features to canonical texts; they record the past of a group of people in a certain positive manner, which helps them to survive - so they are considered as part of cultural memory. As such, they provide patterns of identification in a powerful narrative mode, which helps the group-members in forming positive national identity. Rather than transmitting cognitive knowledge of the past, they transmit traditional values and collective emotional experiences. The canonical function of historical novels is also suggested by the fact that they are compulsory readings in schools.

The narratives of cultural memory not only transmit and carry group-identity, but characteristic features of group-identity are manifested in them as well. This is true for stories of the group recorded by professionals, but also true for fictive narratives written about the history of the group. In fact, the later present desirable patterns of identity by being openly based on identification of the receiver and the freedom of fiction. This phenomenon is present mostly in ‘civilised’ nations, in terms of Elias (1982). In the case of those civilised nations where national development was thwarted - and the Hungarian nation certainly belongs to this group - this role of historical novels is more prevalent in forming national identity.

Aims of the study

First, the aim of the study was to uncover social psychological patterns of narrative composition in the two most successful Hungarian historical novels, which enable or facilitate readers’ identification with Hungarian national history and its representatives. In this way, the study intended to provide support for the hypothesis on the relation between literary success and capacity for identity construction. Second, with lesser emphasis in the current framework, the study also intended to reconstruct some features of Hungarian national identity as it is represented in the most successful historical novels.

Material

The two most successful Hungarian historic novels are Stars of Eger by Géza Gárdonyi and Sons of the Cold-hearted Man by Mór Jókai both written in the second half of the nineteenth century. Success was measured by frequency of publications, by frequency of their application to different media, e.g., cinema or radio, and by frequency of book loans in a yearly repeated nationwide survey in Hungarian public libraries .[1] These two novels were far ahead of any other historical novels in all the three indicators. Stars of Eger is about a victorious battle against the Turks in a war, which subdued Hungary to the Osman Empire for 150 years. The novel consists of 135,450 words. Sons of the Cold-hearted Man is about the 1848 revolution, an independence war against the Habsburg Empire. The revolution, despite some victorious battles, was eventually defeated. The novel consists of 144,052 words.

Method

To analyse the novels the Atlas-ti content analysing software was used. This program makes two types of analysis possible: a word-level and a higher concept-level analysis. In word-level analysis the program automatically codes certain words chosen by the analyst, while concept-level coding is done manually on basis of a preliminary conception appropriate for the study.

As a first step in word-level analysis, the frequency of appearance of each character was measured so as to identify the leading characters. In the second step, texts surrounding the leading characters were coded. Each action of a character was coded according to the character trait or value it reflected and by its outcome.

The following coding criteria were used:

· in one scene one character was coded for a typical trait only once

· in one scene one character could have been coded for more typical trait

· the same character in different scenes could have been coded with the same trait code

Coding was performed by two independent coders with a .84 agreement for Stars of Eger and with .78 agreement for Sons of the Cold-hearted Man.

Results

Given that slightly different categories and coding criteria were used in the two novels, the results are presented

a) Stars of Eger

The most frequently appearing figures of the novel are Bornemissza, Dobó, Mekcsey and Bálint Török among men, and Éva Cecey by far among women (Table 1.).

Table 1.

The actions of all figures with high frequency referred to positive features. The features most often associated with action were strength, learning and creativity, experience and wisdom, moral firmness. The coding procedure of actions with these characteristics is shown in the following examples:

Learning

“Gergely stopped. He looked at the gunpowder and the fuse and shook his head.

- Is there anything wrong? - asked Dobó.

- Well, it’s good enough - responded Gergely -, but I ask your permission to prepare the bombs myself on the bastion, where I will be.

- Tell me honestly if you know anything better! You are a learned man, and the main task here is defending the castle, and not any subsidiary consideration.

- Well, I know something better - said Gergely. These old bombs sizzle, jump, burst and that’s all. I put a core in it.

- What kind of core?

- A little bomb, oily straw mixed into copper powder, iron powder and a piece of sulphur. My bomb starts to work only when it goes off.

Dobó shouted to the men preparing bombs: - Stop the work! Lieutenant Bornemissza will return soon, and you will do as he will wish.”

Strength

“You are already here? - Shouted Zolnay. - Are you hurt?

Gergely shook his head.

- Have you stabbed the Turk?

Gergely nodded.

- To my bosom, you little hero! - shouted Zolnay enthusiastically and gave a big hug to the 15-years-old old boy, who just passed his exam of bravery.”

Moral excellence

Bálint Török got the caftan of the highest value. It was a heavy, yellow silk down to his ankles. The other caftans were all the same colour of violet, lined with orange silk. His was the only one made of silk coloured like sunflower and lined with creamy white silk. Merely the belt woven of golden wool was such a minute work, that it probably took a lifetime. The buttons from neck to belt, golden buttons surrounded by diamonds. As the tenants came around running Bálint Török shook his head laughing. - It will make for a blanket!”

Experience

“Sir Captain - he told clinking his spurs -, some 200 of us would go outside this night.

- Where the hell?

- To Maklár.

- To Maklár?

- To say good night to the Turks.

Dobó smoothed his moustache happily then stepped into the bay of the window. Mekcsey had to follow.

- Well - answered Dobó -. I don’t mind. It’s encouraging for the people in the castle.

- That is what I thought myself.

- The higher the martial spirit, the better hits the sword. But I won’t let you go.

Mekcsey gave a jerk. Dobó looked at him relaxed.

- You are like a bull. You butt every tree, and once you will notice you can’t get your horn out of it. Though you should watch your head, because if I fall, you take my place as a captain. This I tell only you.

The features coded were found to be associated with the male characters unevenly and one-sidedly (Table 2.).

Table 2.

As a result of the statistical analysis we found significant outcomes in three cases. “Learning” for Bornemissza (c²=20,667; p<0,05), “experience” for Dobó (c²=39,361; p<0,05) and “moral” for Török (c²=7,882; p<0,05) can be said to be typical behavioural patterns. In the case of Mekcsey we did not carry out statistical analysis as in his case only “strength” occurred as a behavioural pattern.

In the case of female characters we examined feminine and masculine behaviour characteristics (Considering that the subject of the novel is a battle against Turks, no wonder that the proportion of aggressive behaviour as a masculine form is high. On the other hand, women also hold their femininity in accordance to the feminine stereotype. They perform such actions, in which they transform originally feminine behaviour forms into masculine ones in a creative way. A typical example of it is that while before the battle women cooked goulash (it is a special Hungarian food) – according to expectations- and gave it their husbands, during the battle women boiled black pitch and poured it on the Turks.

b) Sons of the Cold-hearted Man

The following table contains data concerning the frequency of characters. On the side of the revolutionists there are mainly Hungarians while on the side of Habsburg supporters is formed of non-Hungarians.

Table 3.

To analyse the characters’ actions and the trait-dimensions that are expressed in these actions a wider two-level categorisation was used. Autonomy, authority and emotionality were added to the set of trait dimensions used in Stars of Eger. Another difference is that, as opposed to the Stars of Eger, where trait-dimensions were represented by unequivocally positive features (e.g., knowledge and creativity), culturally negatively valued properties also appeared among the features describing certain trait-dimensions. For example, negative features such as perfidy and cunning complemented positive features like knowledge, creativity and wisdom. This made it possible to categorise actions according to their positivity or negativity.

In the case of Sons of the Cold-hearted Man results cannot be interpreted on the individual level, rather it is the group level (Hungarian/revolutionaries versus non-Hungarian/Habsburg-supporters), which is relevant. Nevertheless, group results are broken down according to the individuals in Table 4.

Table 4.

The table is informative inasmuch it shows that there is a strong correlation between the frequency of characters’ occurrence in the text and the frequency of the coded actions. The correlation co-efficient is 0,925 (p=0.001) in the case of the Hungarian group while in the non-Hungarian it is 0,084 (p=0.093). The distribution of positive and negative features is summarised in Table 5.

Table 5.

There are significant differences between the Hungarian and the non-Hungarian groups in respect of all the trait categories apart from strength and autonomy. Hungarians are endowed with more positive than negative cognitive, moral, emotionality-, and authority-attributes, whereas non-Hungarian Habsburg supporters in all trait categories are depicted more negatively. Accordingly, the Hungarian versus non-Hungarian comparison results in Hungarian positivity in all trait-dimensions, apart from strength and autonomy.

The actions of characters can be coded not only in terms of their culturally positive or negative value, but of their outcome as well. An action is successful or not from the point of view of the character. It is assumed that the more successful action is performed by a character in the novel, the more attractive are the traits or dispositions, which characterise her or him. Therefore, the value of the action can be defined on two levels. First, the action itself has a value, which is shown by the classification of traits and properties given in Table 5. In fact, only this can be called a “value” in the literal sense of the word. On the other hand, positive and negative outcomes of an action also give value to it. In both cases the value is defined in terms of attraction for identification. Thus the value is what can strengthen the positive part of identity.

The analysis in terms of outcome of the action proved to be rather difficult because its effect on the characters often appears later in the novel. Therefore there were more actions coded than outcomes. Table 6. contains the comparison of results according to the outcome of actions.

Table 6.

According to the chi-square analysis, there is a connection between belonging to the group and the outcome of an action (p<0.001); the outcome of Hungarian actions are largely positive, i.e., successful, while those of the non-Hungarians are unsuccessful. The emerging picture shows that the group fights for good aims (MORAL, honour) with good internal skills (COGNITIVE, creativity) but their striving for independence is not strong enough: some of them are afraid of undertaking the task and these cause the failure of the revolution.

Discussion

Ricoeur [16] emphasizes the self-understanding nature of narrative. Identifying ourselves, being identical with ourselves always assumes identification with others, which is manifest in narratives. The role of narrative mediation is to develop variations of our own personality through identification that is the third-person construction of the self. Historical novels offer a glorious past and heroic deeds for identification, thereby enhancing group identity. The plot, the heroic fight, recalling the victorious past in all probability has an influence on the long lasting popularity of a novel. But this itself is not enough for success -- neither are the human values which are reflected and culturally sustained in the novel, which may be substantial from the point of view of national identity. Results suggest that the popularity of the novel is related to a social psychological composition of how these attributes and values are arranged in the story. In the The Stars of Eger positive properties (strength, knowledge, wisdom, moral) are divided unevenly among the characters, each character representing an ideal form of an attribute. The novel, taking advantage of its capacity for identification, offers patterns of idealised and schematised group-properties coded in actions, which make the process of identification easier. On the other hand, this composition makes it more emphatic that the one-sided characters form a group together. It transmits and reinforces a national identity, which is composed from all the positive attributes represented in the novel.

The social psychological composition of the Sons of the Cold-hearted Man is based on an ideal opposition of the in-group and out-group, although the plausibility of the novel is accentuated by the Hungarian characters also having deeds with negative outcomes. The non-Hungarian characters’ deeds (with one single exception) are entirely negative throughout the novel. This corresponds to peoples’ general attitude towards their in- and out-groups. They tend to reflect on the (few) negative features of their own group more frequently than on the positive characteristics of the other group. The popularity of the novel, however, cannot be attributed only to this ideal opposition. To construct an easily accessible positive national identity, the writer performs the task of making a victory out of defeat.

The components of the image of the Hungarians are: courage, honesty, helping, and democratic leadership. From the negative codes cowardice is the most frequent, attached to two characters. Therewith, naivity, passivity and obedience also appear. All of these traits belong to the negative pole of the character dimensions of strength and autonomy. The results indicate that Hungarians fight for good aims (moral) with good ability (cognitive). But their striving for independence is not strong enough and there are some of them who are afraid to undertake the task. These are the ones who cause the downfall failure of the revolution. The construction of a positive group identity can be detected in the outcomes of the actions. Although the revolution fails, most actions of the Hungarians are successful, whereas most actions of the non-Hungarians fail. Thus, the writer depicts a historical event, which had a negative resolution for the Hungarians in a way that Hungarians generally act with positive outcomes, while the actions of the non-Hungarians are mostly unsuccessful from the point of view of the actor. Here the novel follows the pattern of “we lost, but we won" -- on moral and cognitive levels. This is a historically developed core element of Hungarian national identity (see e.g. László et al., 2002) and this is what the novel makes attractive and accessible for identification.

Summing up, the two most successful Hungarian historical novels use different social psychological patterns of narrative composition so as to promote and ease readers’ identification with their own national group. In the Stars of Eger, each of the four leading characters representing the in-group embodies a single but culturally highly valued trait: strength, knowledge, wisdom, moral excellence. The Sons of the Cold-hearted Man is about a failed revolution, not a glorious victory. It allows for more complex characters, i.e., more negative traits in the in-group, and some positive traits in the out-group. However, the outcomes of the actions of each group serve to reinforce and transmit a coping strategy characteristic to the Hungarian culture, i.e., transforming real defeat into moral victory.