Majorossy Judit: Egy történelmi gyilkosság margójára. Merániai Gertrúd emlékezete, 1213 - 2013. Tanulmánykötet - A Ferenczy Múzeum kiadványai, A. sorozat: Monográfiák 2. (Szentendre, 2014)
VI. English Summaries
To the Margin of a Historical Murder - English Summaries By the end of the nineteenth century the role of photographs was increasing as means of interpretations. The story of Bánk Bán was still in the centre of interest as a topic material for different kinds of illustrations. Proving the long lasting popularity of the subject is represented by the illustrations of György Kádár (1912-2002) made for the 1959 publication of the drama, together with plans for momumental murals in the Erkel Theatre in Budapest. Katalin Blaskó The Story of Queen Gertrude in Austrian Literature (Franz Grillparzer: A Faithful Servant of His Lord) In the first half of the nineteenth century in the different parts of the Habsburg Empire several types of group identities developed. While in the Hungarian intellectual life was dominated by a language and culture based romantic nationalism, in the core Austrian land of the Habsburg dominion transnational imperial patriotism was determinant. The significant difference between these group identification patterns can also be detected in those two historical dramas that were written almost at the same time, on the same topic (namely, on the tragic murder of Queen Gertrude), most probably independently from one another: József Katona’s work entitled Bánk bán in Hungary and Franz Grillparzers Treuer Diener seines Herrn (A Faithful Servant of His Lord) in Austria. The present study summarizes the characteristics of the two mentioned identificational patterns and then discusses Grillparzers attitude to them. The author concludes that Grillparzers well-known negative opinion about the Hungarians is closely related to the irreconcilability of these cultural models (romantic nationalism and transnational imperial patriotism) and that the primary source of his antipathy was the spread of the nationalistic ideas throughout Europe. In Grillparzers eyes nationalism was a destructive threat against his vision of the glorified motherland (Vaterland in his own notions) which for him was the empire envisioned by Emperor Joseph II of Austria. One of the characteristic protagonists of this idealized kingdom was Bancbanus in whose dramatic character Grillparzer condensed the manifestation of subject loyalty to its extreme. The historical scenery is the same, the story is also similar to József Katona’s Bánk bán play, since both authors used almost the same historical sources to their works. Grillparzers drama also presents the historical events that the wife of King Andrew II of Hungary, Queen Gertrude of German origin was murdered by some rebellious Hungarian noblemen in the absence of the ruler and in his play, as according to the later chronicles, the responsibility fell on Palatine Bánk as being the “governor” and in the absence of the king acting in his name even injuring personal insults from the queen (and his brother). Nevertheless, according to Grillparzers scenario Bánk’s responsibility and fault was only due to the fact that he was not able to maintain order in the kingdom, but he was not the murderer, moreover, he defended to the utmost the members of the royal family, among them his own wife’s killer, the queen’s brother. The study also discusses both the circumstances of the birth of Grillparzers drama and the history of its reception. This author presents the stereotypic image of the Hungarians that are to be detected in the play and analyses the role and figure of Queen Gertrude. Finally, she places Grillparzers work in the Austrian literary canon and discusses the comparative analysis of both Bánk bán dramas. In the end, it is concluded that the reception of the Austrian drama in Hungary and the Hungarian drama in Austria (or in any German-speaking surrounding) is rather difficult and is hindered by the opposing cultural patterns dominating these works as well as by the strong and bonding historical context (time and space) of their birth. 320
