Joyce’s Ulysses in Hungarian

by Giorgia Winter

Joyce’s Ulysses was wholly published in Paris in 1922 but earlier it could be read in an American journal, The Little Review, which serialized it in parts from March 1918 to December 1920. The novel divided readers and critics. In Eastern Europe on the basis of ideological reasons Joyce’s novel was alleged to be extremely extravagant, moreover, it was accused of blasphemy and pornography in both Eastern and Western Europe. Before its first Hungarian translation was published, the critique had judged the novel remarkable. But in Hungary from 1930s to 1980s due to the Marxist critique the reaction to Ulysses became negative. Interestingly, a positive, independent critique began to evolve from 1960s. Judgement of Irish culture in Europe and the United States, the international situation of Hungary and the English knowledge of critics and translators were included in the issues of reception. This essay tells the history of the Hungarian translation of Joyce’s Ulysses and examines the quality of two different translations.

The history of the Hungarian translation of Joyce’s Ulysses has some milestones. Mihály Babits wanted to organize a group to translate Ulysses but in issue 16 of Nyugat in 1936 he says that Miklós Szentkuthy is the Hungarian Joyce and he could translate Ulysses. However, Endre Gáspár had translated Joyce’s novel from English into Hungarian in 1947, Miklós Szentkuthy translated it again in 1974, but according to some critics, he rewrote Ulysses. Between releasing the two translations significant studies were published connected to Joyce’s Ulysses in Hungary, namely, in 1959 Tibor Lutter’s monography and in 1967 Péter Egri’s study, James Joyce and Thomas Mann: Decadency and Modernity. In 1986 Szentkuthy’s translation was published again edited by Tibor Bartos. By the time the newest translation was released in 2012, studies about Joyce’s works had been available to the public since 1990s, among them Ákos Farkas’s Will’s Son and Jake’s Peer:Anthony Burgess and Joyce’s relationship, was introduced in 2002. As a significant stage in the translation of Ulysses the Hungarian James Joyce Society has been working since 2002, and its yearly conference is held in Szombathely where Bloom, one of the protagonists of the novel, originated from.

By using the idea of Mihály Babits, as the members of Magyar James Joyce Műhely (MJJM), András Kappanyos, Gábor Zoltán Kiss, Marianna Gula and Dávid Szolláth translated Joyce’s Ulysses from English into Hungarian on the basis of Gabler’s edition[1] and Szentkuthy’s translation. As the essential target, MJJM decided to create a new, clearer interpretation of Joyce’s novel using Szentkuthy’s version to make the new form different to the former ones philologically and structurally. The supplementary materials[2] that are used to new interpretation are Ulysses Annotated[3], New Bloomsday Book[4], Allusions in Ulysses[5], Ulysses: A Reference Guide[6], the advertisements of Titbits[7], the photos of Joyce Images[8] and the Ulysses Concordance site[9]. The verses of the Bible were quoted on the basis of by Károly’s translation version, and the other poems and quotations were translated keeping their original translators’ texts. Consequently, Shakespeare’s works were quoted following János Arany’s work. Utilizing the knowledge about Joyce and his work that had been accumulated since 1974, the methods of this translation differentiated MJJM’s work from Szentkuthy’s.  In accordance with András Kappanyos’s group, Szentkuthy’s version contains a lot of inaccuracies that damage the system of the novel. These inaccuracies were written as the consequence of referential errors, due to cultural misunderstanding, and the consequence of structural inaccuracies, which are lost motifs and parts of narrative. Szentkuthy became accused of exaggeration of translation, and as a result, his virtuosity in writing influences understanding. In excuse of the former Hungarian versions of Ulysses their translators did not have enough information and they could not use equipment of mass communication, which made the translation much easier in the twenty-first century. Therefore they could not keep the inner system of the novel’s references; however, Szentkuthy and Bartos could have used the Gabler’s edition of Ulysses and Gifford’s annotationa in the revised version of Szentkuthy’s first translation. To remove the earlier mentioned mistakes MJJM wanted to integrate Joyce’s life-work into Hungarian culture to provide opportunity to readers to experience the reading of Joyce’s works including Ulysses. Although none of the translations of Ulysses are perfect, to translate “Oxen of the Sun” episode, which is the most studied episodes, is practically impossible. As a result, this episode contains the most conspicious mistakes and slips in Szentkuthy’s version.  

Nevertheless, Kappanyos’s group tried to eliminate the mistakes that Szentkuthy had made. By illustrating the elimination of these mistakes with examples, Szentkuthy’s and MJJM’s translation are compared on the basis of the themes of “passion” and “religion.” In “Oxen of the Sun” episode Joyce uses chronological order of imitations of English prose style to the narrative of this chapter from Latin prose to contemporary slang. The style of Horace Walpole’s and Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu are also parodied (U 14.1010-37). Within this paragraph, in which two representatives of Gothic are recalled, there is only one useful information with exaggerating the importance of circumstances. As for this information, Mulligan says that he will meet Haines at Westland Row railway station at ten past eleven and the readers of Ulysses know that the two men have parted from each other at Moore’s. This short message is wrapped up in imitation of Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto and Le Fanu’s The House by the Churchyard. When Francisco says to Bernardo, who arrives to relieve him at guarding: “[f]or this relief much thanks” (U 14.1034). This quotation of Hamlet is put to two different contexts in Ulysses. In “Nausicaa” episode Bloom is thinking as a voyeur after a sexual adventure. “Did me good all the same. Off colour after Kiernan’s, Dignam’s. For this relief much thanks. In Hamlet, that is. Lord! It was all things combined. Excitement” (U 13.939). But in “Oxen of the Sun” episode this sentence is the part of the narrative text, in which Mulligan reveals that Haines is guilty. János Arany had translated: “Köszönöm, hogy felváltasz,” which was used by Szentkuthy in the second case when the sentence is occurred again, but he translated “Köszönöm a megkönnyebbülést” (Szentkuthy 476) as Bloom’s sigh after an erotic experience due to Gerty McDowell. The newest and different version is “Köszönöm, rámfért” (MJJM 357, 393), which is understandable in both situations. Szentkuthy’s translations disturb to recognize the quotation of Hamlet, and their styles are not adequate but MJJM’s translation is clear in terms of both sections.

Also, Laurence Sterne’s style, and his work, A Sentimental Journey, were parodied involving allusions to sexual life, similarly in the former quotation. This paragraph of “Oxen of the Sun” episode mentions dividing the adequate contraceptive device that was banned in Ireland at the turning of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. “Capote” means condom and “umbrella” is slang for a diaphragm, “Le Fécondatour” means “the impregnator” in this episode. Both of them are prepared for the peak of a sexual act. “Tut, tut! cries Le Fécondateur, tripping in, my friend Monsieur Moore, that most accomplished traveler [. . .] is my authority that in Cape Horn, ventre biche, they have a rain that will wet through any, even the stoutest cloak” (U 14.778-82). The metaphor of a sexual act is signalled directly in Szentkuthy’s translation, in which “Phalladia” means “Cape Horn” (Szentkuthy 519). In the new translation “Cape Horn” appears as “Jóreménység foka” (MJJM 387) without any exaggeration. The word of “Phalladia” is not translated but created and “Jóreménység foka” can demonstrate what the base of the metaphor is and it does not destroy Joyce’s original metaphor.

Beside imitation of Gothic style, as a passion, taking drugs is mentioned: “Dope is my only hope” (U 14.1024). Szentkuthy translated it as “[t]ápszerem a kábszer” (528), and the new translation is “[e]gyetlen remény e hűs edény” (MJJM 393). As “dope” can mean a drug taken illegally for recreational purposes, or a drug given to a racehorse or greyhound to inhibit or enhance the performance of animals and a drug taken by athletes to improve their performance. Neither of the translations expresses the original  meaning precisely. “Egyetlen reményem a drogos edényem”, “A mámor ápol”, “Bizakodom az italomon” (my translation) could be more exact interpretations. “A mámor ápol” is the most concise but does not express that this is the only hope. “Bizakodom az italomon” refers rather to drinking alcohol than dope, and “Egyetlen reményem a drogos edényem” is similar to MJJM’s  translation but expresses using drugs more directly.

The concept of passion in religious context recalls the Passion of Jesus Christ, in “Lestrygonians” episode. “Paying game. Torry and Alexander last year. Poligamy. His wife will put the stopper on that.Where was that ad some Birmingham firm the luminous crucifix. Our Saviour. Wake up in the dead of night and see him on the wall, hanging. Pepper’s ghost idea. Iron Nails Ran In” (U 8.17-20). At the beginning of this episode Bloom looks at a sweet-shop then a young Y.M.C.A. man gives him a throughaway that announces “Elijah is coming” and the “Blood of the Lamb.” Looking at the throughaway, Bloom starts to associate, and thinks of Jesus. Szentkuthy had translated: “Gyűjtési cirkusz. Tavaly Torry és Alexander. Poligámia. Majd a felesége rendet csinál. Hol van az a hirdetés, valami birminghami cég a világító feszülettel? Megváltónk. Éjfélt üt az óra felriadsz és látod ott lógni a falon. Grandguignol. Vasszögekkel szögelteték” (187). But MJJM’s interpretation is different: “A pénzre mennek. Tavaly Torry és Alexander. Poligámia. Ehhez majd még a feleségének is lesz egy-két szava. Hol volt az a hirdetés, valami birminghami cég a világító feszülettel? Megváltónk. Éjfélt üt az óra, felriadsz és látod ott lógni a falon. A Pepper-féle szellem ötlete. Irgalom Nélkül Rángattak Ide” (149). From Szentkuthy’s translation “Pepper’s ghost idea”is lacking. Gifford explaines:  “Padraic Colum in an interview in 1968 recalled this as a circus or stage trick developed by an Englishman named John Pepper in the 1870s. It involved the manipulation of phosphorescent costumes, lighting, and dark curtains to produce the dramatic illusion of ghostly presences on stage” (Gifford 157). “Grandguignol” means dramatic entertainment featuring the gruesome or horrible originated from Le Grand Guignol, small theater in Montmartre, Paris, which specialized in such performances. The expression that Szentkuthy uses does not signal the original thought and it is too abstract. MJJM translated this sentence word for word. In this passage the other difference between the two translations is the last sentence of the paragraph. “Iron Nails Ran In” recalls the acronym of INRI, the abbreviation of Iēsus Nazarēnus, Rēx Iūdaeōrum represents the Latin inscription which in English reads as “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews.” The inscription has been written on the crucifix hanging on the wall, in Bloom’s room. Looking at the crucifix Bloom’s thought becomes frivolous mixing his mystical and religious ideas. “Bloom’s stream of consciousness is metonimical and reminds its readers of epic poetry and realism. [. . .] We always know what Bloom is doing and where he is staying, consequently the connection between what he thinks and does is direct” (Goldmann 127, my translation). Márta Goldmann quotes David Lodge’s statement about metaphorical and metonymical poles after Roman Jakobson’s theory. Szentkuthy’s interpretation, “Vasszögekkel szögelteték” renders the original content and MJJM’S translation, “Irgalom Nélkül Rángattak Ide” expresses the form but neither of them have unity between content and form. “Igazhitűt Nem Raknak Ide”, “Indokolatlanul Nem Raknak Ide”, “Istenhívő Nem Rakatna Ide” or “Isten Nem Rakatna Ide”(my translation) could be the other solutions.

In Bloom’s stream of consciousness, Easter appears with the problem of lent and as a reaction Bloom’s first impression is eating and dying of hunger. “Increase and multiply. Did you ever hear such an idea? Eat you out of house and home. No families themselves to feed. Living on the fat of the land. Their butteries and larders. I’d like to see them do the black fast Yom Kippur. Crossbuns. One meal and a collation for fear he’d collapse on the altar” (U 8.33-7). “Increase and multiply” is quoted from Genesis 1:28 and it is the key of Roman Catholic condemnation of birth control. “No families themselves to feed” refers to Roman Catholic priests who are not allowed to have children. “Living on the fat of the land” recalls Genesis 45:18 where the generous pharaoh gives the crops of his land to Joseph and his nation. Yom Kippur, which is the key word of the next sentence, is the Day of Atonement for the Jewish people who celebrate this day with fasting and praying. The similar black fast in the Christian tradition means that on the fifth Sunday of the Lent before Easter nothing can be eaten except for water, and the altar in the church is covered with a black veil. By mentioning the name of small cakes, “Crossbuns” Bloom associates the fast of Good Friday and Yom Kippur then the traditional Easter cake as a gift after surviving the Lent. Szentkuthy had translated “crossbuns” as “császárzsemle”, which is a different type of cake, namely Kaiser roll, and it does not remind readers of Easter but the Habsburg Monarchy. This Hungarian expression is the odd one out of the text. “Gyarapodjatok és sokasodjatok. Hallottak már ilyet? Zabáljátok föl mindeneteket. Ilyenek nem tudnak gondoskodni magukról. Csak élnek bele a világba. Elvégre kamrájuk. Szeretném látni, hogy koplalják ezek végig Jom Kippur bűnbánati böjtjét. Császárzsemlén. Egyszeri étkezés és egy kis böjti étel, nehogy az ember ott essen össze az oltárnál” (Szentkuthy 187-88). As the original version “Crossbuns” connects everyday life with religion on the basis of the association of hunger but Szentkuthy’s choice, „császárzsemlén” does not allude to religion but “Húsvéti kalács” as MJJM’s version fits in the text precisely. “Gyarapodjatok és sokasodjatok. Hallottak már ilyet? Zabáljátok föl mindeneteket. Nekik persze nincs családjuk, amit etetniük kellene. Övék a földnek legjava. Tele a pince meg a padlás. Szeretném látni, hogy csinálnák végig Jom Kippúr fekete böjtjét. Húsvéti kalács. Egyszeri étkezés és egy kis böjti étel, épp csak hogy össze ne essen az oltárnál” (MJJM 150). From the fourth sentence of this section the two translation differentiate. As mentioned earlier, “Living on the fat of the land” refers to the generous pharaoh, who gives the crops of his land to Joseph and his nation. “Csak élnek bele a világba” does not allude to the Biblical context but “Övék a földnek legjava” does. “Their butteries and larders” is translated as “Elvégre kamrájuk” by Szentkuthy, which surpasses the newest version “Tele a pince meg a padlás”, which is more adequate form in Hungarian. MJJM’s version kept the context of the Bible but Szentkuthy associated more generally.

In “Telemachus” episode a theological interpretation of Hamlet is mentioned in terms of the Father-Son relationship then Mulligan chants his blasphemous comic ballad of Joking Jesus, which also explores the subject of fraternity and divinity in the form of parody. “I'm the queerest young fellow that ever you heard. / My mother's a jew, my father's a bird. / With Joseph the joiner I cannot agree. / So here's to disciples and Calvary. // If anyone thinks that I amn't divine / He'll get no free drinks when I'm making the wine / But have to drink water and wish it were plain / That I make when the wine becomes water again. // Goodbye, now, goodbye! Write down all I said / And tell Tom, Dick and Harry I rose from the dead. / What's bred in the bone cannot fail me to fly / And Olivet's breezy. . . Goodbye, now, goodbye!” (U 1.584-99).  The model of Buck Mulligan, who chants this song, is Joyce’s friend, Oliver St. John Gogarty, physician, writer, poet and the celebrity of his age. Some lines of his work, The Song of the Cheerful (but Slightly Sarcastic) Jesus are quoted as The Ballad of Joking Jesus by Joyce in Ulysses. Gogarty’s poem was circulated in manuscript in Dublin at the beginning of the twentieth century. Originally, Gogarty sent the ballad to Joyce as a gift for Christmas to conclude a peace after their quarrels in 1904. Other personal details of Buck Mulligan, namely his Hellenism, status as a medical student, friendship with George Moore, who became deeply involved in the Irish Literary Revival movement, his full name in the novel, Malachi Roland St. John Mulligan, are parallel to Gogarty's biography.  Later Joyce  abridged and modified The Ballad of Joking Jesus for inclusion in the opening chapter. Szentkuthy rewrote the ballad entirely: “Az anyám zsidó, az apám rigó, / Elsők közt én a felkent strigó. / Szent Jóskát a léccel nem értem én, / Tanítványok pere Krisztus tetemén. // Ki nem hiszi, hogy volnék Jehova, / Potya borra nem jöhet sehova, / Kánai mennyegzőn vedelhet vizet, / Az első csodára Aquinó ráfizet. // No most agyő, agyő, finál! / Uratok feltámadt és a mennybe száll! / Márk, Máté, Lukács és János írjatok, Ki testet adtam Magamnak, a Szentlélek vagyok” (Szentkuthy 25). The atmosphere of the ballad in the Hungarian version is similar to the English one but there are some lines which are controversial. “[M]y father's a bird” alludes to the dove of the Holy Spirit, thus “rigó” cannot inspire readers to think of the Biblical story about Jesus’s origin. “And tell Tom, Dick and Harry I rose from the dead” signals average people who need to know about his death and resurrection. “Márk, Máté, Lukács és János írjatok” does not refer to average people but the four Evangelists. MJJM’s translation is more direct than Szentkuthy’s but in less congruous style. “Csodásabb figurát láttál-e már / Az anyám zsidó, az apám madár. / József s az ácsszakma nem vonzott soha, Igyunk hát hívek, s Kálvária. // Aki nem hiszi el isteni lényegem, / Vízből lett potyabort nem ihat sohasem, / Érje be azzal, mit akkor teszek, / Ha borból csinálok újra vizet. // No én most elszállok, ti meg csak írjatok / Jancsi, Pista tudja meg, hogy feltámadok! / Az Olajfák hegyén jó most a szél / Tudásom öröklött, légi baj nem ér” (MJJM 24). The earlier debated lines of this satirical song appear word for word in the new translation, which sounds simple keeping the ballad humorous. Szentkuthy’s translation of The Ballad of Joking Jesus is not as fluent and clear as MJJM’s.

Mihály Szegedy-Maszák considers that in Szentkuthy’s translation the Hungarian readers of Ulysses could not understand one part of “Scylla and Charybdis” episode (47), in which William Q. Judge is mentioned, who assisted Madame Blavatsky in founding the Theosophical Society in 1875. He was the head of the Aryan Theosophical Society in New York City as well.

Dunlop, Judge, the noblest Roman of them all, A. E., Arval, the Name Ineffable, in heaven hight: K. H., their master, whose identity is no secret to adepts. Brothers of the great white lodge always watching to see if they can help. The Christ with the bridesister, moisture of light, born of an ensouled virgin, repentant Sophia, departed to the plane of buddhi. The life esoteric is not for ordinary person. O. P. must work off bad karma first. Mrs Cooper Oakley once glimpsed our very illustrious sister H. P. B.’s elemental. (U 9.65-71)

In Szentkuthy’s translation Judge is translated as “a Bíró”, which is a mysterious character  of the Society or an allusion to a Biblical verse quoted from James 5:9, “Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!” This translation is deceptive but the paragraph depicts the Theosophist Society’s disciplines, which are not connected to only Christian disciplines. Daniel Nicol Dunlop edited The Irish Theosophist and The Path[10]. Arval is “[t]he central ruling body of the Theosophical movement was composed of twelve  members and was called the Esoteric Section or mystically Arval, after a Roman priesthood of twelve members who performed the fertility rites of a somewhat mysterious mother-goddess. Theosophical lore associated this twelve with the twelve disciples (both groups governed by a "master" whose identity was shrouded in mystery)” (Gifford 197). K. H. is Khoot Hoomi, one of Blavatsky’s two masters. “In Ireland Theosophy connected closely to the endeavour of independence and literature, Blavatsky’s disciplines affected Yeats’s poetry” (Szegedy-Maszák 48, my translation). There are only a few differences between Szentkuthy’s and the new translation; however, they are annoying.

Dunlop, a Bíró, mindnyájunk között a legnemesebb római, A. E., Arval, a Kifejezhetetlen Név, egek magasságaiban, K. H., a mesterük, kinek kiléte nem titok a beavatottak előtt. A nagy fehér páholy testvérei mindig tettre készen várják, vajon nem kell-e valakin segíteni. A Krisztus a menyasszonynővérrel, világosság nedvessége, lélekben fogant szűztől nyűlve, bűnbánó Sophia, felemeltetve a buddhák mezejére. Az ezoterikus élet nem közönséges emberek számára való. O. P.-nek előbb expiálnia kell a rossz karmát. Mrs. Cooper Oakley fél szemmel egyszer látta a mi igen kitűnő növérünket. H. P. B.-nek orgánumát. (Szentkuthy 233)

In the next paragraph he exaggerated the translation of the repeated word, “elemental,” as “orgazmusát.” Related to the theme of “religion”, MJJM’s translation is funny, first they translated “elementálját,” then “elejetáját.” The concept of elemental character or nature means instinctive character, consequently “elejetája” is the most proper and may point to Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s skill, such as levitation. The new translation is more exact. “Dunlop, Judge, a legnemesbik római mindnyája közt, A. E., Arval, a Megnevezhetetlen Név, egek magasságában. [. . .] K. E.-nek előbb le kell dolgoznia a rossz karmát. Mrs. Cooper Oakley egyszer megpillantotta a mi igen kitűnő nővérünk, H. P. B. elementálját” (MJJM 183). An elemental is a being from the works of Paracelsus where he named four elemental categories, gnomes, undines, sylphs and salamanders. “Elemental” can be translated easily because it has a similar form in Hungarian, “elementál”, which recalls the original form that served as a basis for that parody in Ulysses.

Understanding all cultural allusions in this novel, is impossible. There is an example for this phenomenon in “Cyclops” episode, where the original text contains Hungarian words. Both Szentkuthy and MJJM used italic letters to emphasize these words; however, it cannot turn out that these words are in Hungarian in Joyce’s novel. Therefore it is impossible to feel the original atmosphere. Moreover, the readers of Ulysses need to be highly cultured to recognize Greek, Latin and Hebrew phrases. The title of the novel points that here is a crossword lacing in the novel, the word of Ulysses is the Latin translation of Odyssey, who is the hero of a Greek epic poem. Moreover, for understanding the text of Ulysses the Irish context is needed to know.

To sum it up, both Hungarian translations of Ulysses have values and mistakes. Generally, MJJM’s translation is more precise because translators could use more supplementary materials and reference literature than Szentkuthy and they could utilize the opportunities of digital culture. Since 2012 when the new translation of Ulysses was released, it has been less difficult to understand the system of the novel, but its readers’ creative cooperation needs to understand Ulysses perfectly because the new translation is not annotated. Annotation could help readers to understand the system of the novel and research Joyce’s life-work. But the cover of Ulysses made by Gábor Gerhes causes its mistakes to be forgotten and signals that this novel is not ordinary.

Works Cited

Goldmann, Márta. James Joyce kritikai fogadtatása Magyarországon. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2005. Print.

Gula, Marianna. “A rév és a vám: A fordítás során keletkező ’hozzáadott érték’ jelenségéről.” Alföld, 61.9, (2010): 74-84.  Print.

Gifford, Don, and Robert J. Seidman. Ulysses Annotated. Berkeley and Los Angeles,

California: U of California P, 1989. Print.

Joyce, James. Ulysses. New York: Vintage, 1986. Print.

Joyce, James. Ulysses. Trans. Magyar James Joyce Műhely. Budapest: Európa, 2012. Print.

Joyce, James. Ulysses.  Trans. Miklós Szentkuthy. Budapest: Európa, 1998. Print.

Kappanyos, András. “Joyce mint klasszikus auktor és mint magyar invenció.”

Alföld, 61.9, (2010): 52-59. Print.

Szegedy-Maszák, Mihály. “A fordítás hűsége: kísértés vagy ábránd?” Alföld, 61.9, (2010): 45-51. Print.

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[1]  Hans Walter Gabler’s corrected edition of Joyce’s Ulysses published in 1984

[2] http://magyarszak.uni-miskolc.hu/joyce.pdf

[3] Gifford, Don, and Robert J. Seidman. Ulysses Annotated. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: U of California P, 1989.

[4] Blamires, Harry. The New Bloomsday Book. New York: Routledge, 1996.

[5] Thornton, Weldon. Allusions in Ulysses: An annotated List. The U of North Carolina P, 1961.

[6] McKenna, Bernard. James Joyce’s Ulysses: A Reference Guide. Westport: Greenwood P, 2002.

[7] A British weekly magazine founded by George Newnes in 1881.

[8] joyceimages.com

[9] www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~rac101/concord/texts/ulysses/

[10] Theosophical journals published in London

Greig’s Dramatization of Identity in Europe

by Giorgia Winter

“So we’re both exiles.”

David Greig, a contemporary Scottish playwright, dramatized the atmosphere of the end of the twentieth century when many events showed that borders did not achieve their original purpose any more. Borders had signalled the place of a nation but they were changed as a result of certain political and economic processes. One of the major borders was the Berlin Wall, which served to prevent emigration from East to West Germany and from the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period, was demolished in 1989. The Iron Curtain provided as a border between Hungary and Austria signalling another wall to isolate people who lived in the countries of the Eastern Bloc. At the end of the twentieth century one of the superpowers, the Soviet Union, disintegrated. As a consequence, member states of the Soviet Union became independent, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were broken into pieces, the countries of the Eastern Bloc became members of the European Union gradually. The title of Greig’s drama, Europe, shows the general nature of the place where the drama is set.

The characters of Europe live somewhere in Europe, but Greig depicts the railway station’s architecture as the print of “the past century’s methods of government. Hapsburg, Nazi and Stalinist forms have created a hybrid which was neither the romantic dusting of history, nor the gloss of modernity” (7). Consequently, the drama can be thought of as a setting in one of the countries of the Eastern Bloc, namely in a border town. Some characters have telling names to signal the theme and help the audience to focus on the real background where globalisation is not a fiction but reality. Sava’s name alludes to a river which is the right side tributary of the Danube connecting Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina with Serbia. The name of Berlin signals one of the possible places of the drama while Morocco’s name refers to a country situated in North-Africa, signalling the possibility to choose the place to live and a border between two continents and two different cultures, where trading is a main job even if it is smuggling. Morocco is a cosmopolitan businessman and the symbol of wealth and mobility.

Some characters of the drama want to become cosmopolitan, accepting the change in their lives if they have to live in another place while the others insist on staying at their present home preserving tradition and stability, which causes tension in the drama. Greig’s characters can be divided into two groups according to their attitude to going away or staying but each of them has different motivation. Adele says to Katia “[y]ou’ve lost your home and I’ve never had one. So we’re both exiles” (67). Katia is supposed to have been attacked during the war, she lost her home. At the moment, she is travelling with her father. They symbolize political refugees in Europe while Adele, who has a home, symbolizes people who do not have a satisfying marriage and financial background and think that “[. . .] travel broadens the mind” (53). The tension between the characters who have a home and who are refugees is salient. Katia replies Adele’s thought about travel as a refugee who is forced to travel. “It doesn’t broaden the mind, it stretches it like skin across a tanning rack… a pegged skin out to dry” (53).  Katia’s answer shows that refugees do not have protection, they depend on the inhabitants and the weather of the countries where they are. Even if they can find a house to live in, they remain outsiders. Morocco as a cosmopolitan believes that “nothing’s more of a prison than a home. Nothing is bigger threat to a man’s liberty than three meals a day and familiar faces at the dinner table” (71). He says to Katia that she is lucky because she lost her home. “It was a blessed release” (71). Morocco emphasizes the importance of freedom at a time when the concept of freedom recalls doubtfulness and exile. Exile is forced or voluntary. Billy goes into voluntary exile to seek his fortune: “I’m going to look for work” (59). Having a job his dreams might come true, he can be a rich man owning a Volvo or a Mercedes with black windows, as his friends predict.

  The decision between going away or staying at home and the characters’ alleged or actual motivation can cause tension and disconnections in Europe.

The railway station is the play’s most direct representation of this kind of detachment, but it points symbolically to others, too: the impossibility of communication between Adele and her husband Berlin, the silences about the past between Sava and his daughter, the apparent disappearance (from maps and signs) of Katia’s home town, and the false connections that lead some to find solutions in far-right politics (Wilkie 157).

Both going away and staying at home can be considered as an exile because both can mean detachment. “The play therefore pursues the implications of disconnection – in transport links, in personal relationships, in versions of nationhood, and between competing social ideologies – for understanding a contemporary European sense of identity” (Wilkie 157). Some characters want to travel to another place, some of them would like to see every place in the world to broaden the mind, and as a result some characters have to travel but some want to utilize the new possibilities.

The play reflects the nature of the characteres in a wider sense and presents some types of the travellers. In the Scottish context the term “travellers” refer to certain groups of ethnic nomads, for example Scottish Travellers, who are people termed loosely Gypsies and Tinkers in Scotland. One of the contemporary Scottish travellers is Jess Smith, who had been living with her parents and a dog in a bus, travelling in Scotland and England, stopping somewhere sometimes. When they stopped, the family told stories and sang songs by the campfire. Jess Smith’s stories cannot be considered as idyllic tales like the contemporary refugees’ stories today. In her younger age she was outside the margins of respectable society and often met violence. She says that “[i]t’s common knowledge that Travellers suffered in the past and to the same extent today ‒ from prejudice and racism. People are afraid of what they don’t understand. No one hears of nice, clean, decent, honest Travellers” (Smith). Greig’s Scottish origin promotes explaining the empathy for outsiders since he may have felt being despised. In the context of colonization, Scotland has been subordinated to Great Britain, and Britishness does not mean a nation but the integration of peoples. The destruction of the clans as Samuel Johnson writes in Journey to the Western Islands shows the violent force to the submission of Scotland.

There was perhaps never any change of national manners so quick, so great, and so general, as that which has operated in the Highlands, by the last conquest, and the subsequent laws. We came thither too late to see what we expected, a people of peculiar appearance, and a system of antiquated life. The clans retain little now of their original character, their ferocity of temper is softened, their military ardour is extinguished, their dignity of independence is depressed, their contempt of government subdued, and the reverence for their chiefs abated. Of what they had before the late conquest of their country, there remain only their language and their poverty (Heyk 114).

The basis of David Greig’s motivation to write this drama may be his Scottish origin and being a former citizen in Nigeria, as an outsider. In Nigeria his roots did not mean anything for the aborigins. Morocco, who embodies being without roots in Europe,, is the character whom Adele asks to arrange false identity documents for Katia. He wants to know what sort of traveller Katia is because her type mirrors her identity. “[T]he play itself compiles quite a litany of possible types of traveller: business travellers; economic migrants; vagrants; ‘bloody inter-railers’; refugees, tourists; gypsies; journalists ‘on the trail of a hot story’; spies, gun runners; those on the grand tour; traders; exiles; first-class ticket holders” (Wilkie 160). Yet in a sense they are all exiles and, what is more, those who stay at home can be exiles too, for example Berlin and Horse, since they became unemployed. Being sacked is also a type of discrimination. Strangely, they have to experience something similar to what they feel against outsiders. Horse says to Billy that “they” give all the jobs to people from developing countries but Billy does not understand who Horse speaks about. Horse and Berlin convince Billy that the left, the anarchists, the Jews, the “gyppos”, the blacks and the browns are “[p]olluters of the nation,” and “there didn’t used to be foreigners here” (60). They do not accept the different nations’ otherness.

Racial discrimination is completed with sexual discrimination in part five where Berlin dreams about Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe as far and unavailable targets of his desire. Berlin says that if he was president, he would “[. . .] fuck Jackie Kennedy. . . and Marylin Monroe, [he]’d  buy expensive women for [him]self and [his] friends, smart suit, smart car, smart life . . . smart” (23). Traditional values as purposeful actions do not attract them but later in the drama it is Berlin who refers these values. “I’m staying here. Staying put. Do what I can keep sane. It’s home, isn’t it? Roots. I’ve got a wife” (26). Billy says that Berlin is stuck. Berlin’s identity is a camouflage, he wants to believe that his family and home are important to himself but he does not respect his wife and only pretends loving her.  Fret dies because he has a responsible job and is attached to this place. Some other characters’ identities change. Sava does not go on travelling. “I’ve found myself here. In a station. A station is a place to finish a journey as well a place to start one” (82). Fret and Sava represent the older generation and they are tired to change their lives, therefore they do not want to go away. But their daughters need to seek their fortune. Adele’s identity changes the most, she leaves to have experiences changing her life entirely, and she changes her sexual identity as well.

Today the connection between identity and nationhood is becoming wider and one of its causes is globalization. Literature has always chosen identity as a theme. One of the works in which “identity” is depicted is Joyce’s Ulysses. In the “Cyclops” episode of the novel the concept of a nation and that of being Irish appear directly. There was a debate in the nationalist revival about the assumption that only Gaels were truly Irish, which was argued by the racial purists as opposed to the point that all Irish-born people should be considered as Irish. The Jewish protagonist, Bloom says that “[a] nation is the same people living in the same place. [. . .] Or also living in different places” (Joyce 272). However, when he is asked about what his nation is, he replies that “Ireland [. . .] I was born here. Ireland” (272). Later he expresses his suffering from racial discrimination - “[a]nd I belong to a race, too [. . .] that is hated and persecuted. Also now. This very moment. This very instant” (273). Bloom is an exile because he has Hungarian origin, Irish home and belongs to Jewish culture. Since 1990’s borders have been only symbols and most of the countries in Europe have joined the European Union, describing a nation is more difficult now than at the beginning of the twentieth century when Ulysses was written.

Europe works on numerous levels connected to identity, nation and discrimination both globally and individually. The characters of the drama argue for or against globalisation and modernisation versus tradition and stability but “[they]’re also Europe” as the last sentence of the drama runs, anticipated by the chorus (90).

Works Cited

Greig, David. Europe. Plays I. London: Methuen, 2002. Print.

Heyck, Thomas William. The Peoples from the British Isles. Chicago: Lyceum, 2002. Print.

Interview with Jess Smith. Books from Scotland. booksfromscotland.com.

Web. 27 April 2012.

Joyce, James. Ulysses. New York: Vintage, 1986. Print.

Wilkie, Fiona. ““What’s there to be scared of in a train”: Transport & Travel in Europe.” Cosmotopia: Transnational Identities in David Greig’s Theatre. Ed. Anja Müller and Clare Wallace. Prague: Litteraria Pragensia, 2011. 151-65. Print.

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