Authors
Karolina Wilamowska1; 1 University of Warsaw, Poland Discussion
Polish and Hungarian societies historically consisted predominantly of peasantry (approximately 90%), yet until the mid-19th century, this population remained disenfranchised and subjugated under the nobility. The peasant question acquired strategic importance in the 19th century when, confronted with lost statehood and prolonged dependency on neighbouring powers, forging a unified nation became essential not only for the survival of these ethnic communities but also for regaining independence in both Poland and Hungary. However, even after acquiring statehood, Poland and Hungary struggled with their peasant masses; the “peasant question” or “rural issue” (when, by the mid-20th century, the peasantry as a social class had ceased to exist) emerged on the agenda during each successive modernization campaign in both countries.
In Polish and Hungarian discourse, rurality occupies a polarized position: it is either glorified as the pristine wellspring of national culture, a guarantor of values and tradition, or stigmatized as a hotbed of backwardness, pathology, and an obstacle to the nation’s modernization.
This paper examines a significant trend in literature where rurality serves as a symbolic representation of the entire nation's condition. Narratives set in rural spaces fundamentally address the whole of society at a particular historical moment. This phenomenon is evident in Hungarian novels by László Krasznahorkai, Szilárd Borbély, and Krisztián Grecsó, as well as in Polish works by Wiesław Myśliwski, Andrzej Stasiuk, and Andrzej Muszyński. Through close reading of selected texts, this paper demonstrates how these authors employ rural settings not merely as backdrop but as allegorical space through which to explore broader questions of national identity, modernization, and social transformation. 
