The Two Tatianas or in Europe, All Russians are Suspicious…: Parody as a Text-Structuring Technique in the Works of Rejtő and Pushkin

Abstract

This study presents the comparative analysis of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin’s novel in verse Eugene Onegin and Jenő Rejtő’s novel Tatiana which has survived in manuscript. This work assumes that there is an intertextual relationship between the two novels and Rejtő’s Tatiana was intended to be a transposition of the Russian novel, which has significantly influenced Hungarian literature and was popular in Hungary in the first half of the 20^th century. Besides analysing the literary motifs of the two novels, this study examines the reception of Onegin in Hungary, Rejtő’s possible motivation to write his novel and the authors’ way of writing that goes beyond traditional genre boundaries.