Ljudje ob Muri. Népek a Mura Mentén 1. kötet (Zalaegerszeg, 1996)

Bence Lajos (Lendava): The Effect of Written Literature on Forming the Consciousness of the Minorities

Az írott szó mint tudatformáló erő kisebbségben THE EFFECT OF WRITTEN LITERATURE ON FORMING THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE MINORITIES The effect of written literature on developing identity and forming consciousness can't be denied. Especially not in the case of the literature of a minority. It is characteristic of the literature of the minorities living in Central-Eastern-Europe that public themes prevail instead of general human thoughts, or the essential questions of human existence. An explanation of this could be that living in minority means a constant feeling of threat that occupies the writer's conscience, fetters his thoughts and demands permanent self-censoring. The means of expression are, in the first place, the prosaic genres, working with less métaphores (images), as the essay and the essay-novel, on the other hand the genres of journalism. Considering the function of the literature of a minority, these genres have the same role as the aesthetically highly valuable literature: they contribute to self-realisation, this way they can be considered as one of the most effective measures in the struggle against assimilation. During the interwar period, in the Mura-region „Szabadság" („Liberty") was a weekly newspaper of Hungarian language. It was the most effective of the contemporary newspapers, acting also on the minority's behalf - from many points of view serving as an example even today. Furthermore, the lecture illustrates the effect of written literature on forming collectivity and consciousness through the history of this weekly newspaper, that had been edited nearly for three years, and through the description of the editor's carrier. 251