Le destin insulaire : le paradigme hongrois

Abstract

Our study proposes to analyse the issue of the double insular experience, that of continental isolation and that of opening up to a hoped-for paradise. To demonstrate these aspects of insularity, we will examine a contemporary Hungarian novel by György Ferdinady, entitled An Island Under Water (Sziget a víz alatt, 1960). The protagonist-narrator, an exile from the 1956 Hungarian revolution, settles on a tropical island in Puerto Rico, where he shares the conditions of the colonized with the local inhabitants. Torn from continental isolation, he finds himself in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, both locked up as an exile and free as a geography teacher, adopted by the native community.

Keywords

• novel
• island
• isolation
• migration
• Ferdinándy (György)