Intercultural Identity in Beáta Thomka’s Literary Interpretations
Intercultural Identity in Beáta Thomka’s Literary Interpretations

Summary/Abstract: The author of the paper starts from the hypothesis that beyond the literary works, the interpretation carried out in the spirit of the poetics of culture can also contribute to the elimination of stereotypes characteristic of the Balkan region. In her volume of studies entitled Southern Themes (Délvidéki témák), Beáta Thomka collected her interpretations of the literary works created in the region, namely, the analyses of texts and images which, at the same time, dispose of a significant identity forming potential. In the preface of her book the literary scholar of Vojvodinian, Balkan descent, investigating her own intellectual identity, conceives it with the help of the term border situation. The description of the border situation requires an interdisciplinary research: the simultaneous application of the considerations of historical science, sociology, minority research, ethnography, as well as history of religion, literature, language, folklore, culture and literature, since the interspersedness and the interwovenness, similarly to every culture, also constitute the dominant feature of the culture of the region. Beáta Thomka is convinced that the ethnic and intellectual border crossings can be made patterns of the condition of self-preservation. The description of the forces, working against the cultural habits, observed in the works of Ivo Andrić, Danilo Kiš, of the Serbian short story writers of the turn of the century, of Ottó Tolnai, Ferenc Maurits and others, creates a quality which, similarly to the primary literary works, contributes to opening up the respective culture.

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