Nation-Building and Contested Identities: Romanian & Hungarian ...

The Idea of the “Nation” in Transylvanismvanism in the mid-twenties toward a more conforming type of ideology.With the foundation of the literary association Erdélyi Helikon in 1926(and of their journal bearing the same name in 1928), the desired unionof all views was achieved, at least in the case of a unitary TransylvanianHungarian literature.The most important authors to be studied are the poet SándorReményik, who was editor-in-chief of the Pásztortûz from its first issue untilJuly 1923, the professor of theology Sándor Tavaszy, and the poet Gyula Walter,the editor of the journal until 1925. Reményik was undoubtedly the mostpopular Transylvanian Hungarian poet of the time, while Tavaszy was a wellknownphilosopher. The list of authors of the Pásztortûz comprised manytypes of intellectuals, such as former university professors, literary critics,jurists, different social scientists, as well as prominent churchmen. The journalattempted to cover the entire spectrum of the minority’s intellectual life.The present essay is a part of a larger study involving various aspectsof ideology-construction. This particular segment of the study concentrateson the central tenet of Transylvanism as an ideology: the idea of the“nation” as it was employed in the Transylvanist definition of the Hungariansin Transylvania as a “national minority.” For the Transylvanistauthors, this perspective involved not only the definition of an abstractidea but also the specific delimitation of the Hungarian nation and thegrasping of the specific relationship of the larger “nation” to the minoritycommunity. Moreover, in order to identify the exact place of the nationalminority in the conceptual framework of the nation, one also needs toaccount for the relationship to the “Other,” namely to the dominantRomanian nation.2. Interpretations of the “Nation”: What is the Hungarian?“… this is as much a literary issue as political onebecause it is an issue of spirituality” 22.1 NOT RACIALLY, BUT CULTURALLY INCLUSIVIST NATIONMost Transylvanist authors approached the issue of nationhood in theirattempt to define the notion of the “Hungarian minority in Romania,” byarguing that the definition of a minority is possible even without firstdefining the nation. What Transylvanists understood on “nation” was generallya “supreme unit,” a cultural community, and a people sharinga common history. 3 Nevertheless, according to this approach, it is thecommon soul that embodies all other characteristics, that is the quintessenceof a nation. Race or blood-type are not appropriate to definea nation. The Hungarian nation, as the Transylvanists define it, is open to43