On not getting on - Romania and Hungary

A Romanian film won the Palme d'Or at last year's Cannes Film Festival. Something's happening in our neighbour's cultural life which has attracted the whole of Europe's attention. But what do we know of this in Hungary? Why do we still have prejudices about Romania? Something is missing from our picture. And the same goes for Romanians' views of Hungary. hvg.hu spoke to Boroka Paraszka, editor of a newspaper in Marosvasarhely (Targa Mures) in Romania.

4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days - the film of Cristian Mungiu.

B. P.: I could say that Romania's elite is indifferent and closed - but you have to take a look at the quality of Transylvanian Hungarian culture.

What can we offer? There is some cooperation in plastic arts. But literature is a closed box to which nobody has the key. There is virtually no literary translation between the Romanian and the Hungarian, and this is an enormous loss. But Romania's cultural policy elite could be persuaded to give money for this purpose. Not for high, abstract ideals, but out of simple self-interest. It seems to me that the thinking on this issue hasn't a changed a bit in 15 years. It's suspect. We only seem to be able to think in conflicts. Several authors were taken on a tour of four countries. Big names, barely known in Hungary, like Radu Pavel Gheo, Filip Florian and Dan Lungu.

Bear in mind that a Romanian writer was recently the Czech Republic's writer of the year. We discussed social issues in Vienna, Prague and Bratislava. But the Budapest evening was like marriage guidance. What were we doing with each other? What should we talk about? How? It was successful, but not without tension. The joke is that in the end it emerged that there was no conflict: nobody knew why we were scared of each other.

Pecs will be Europe's cultural capital in 2010, like Sibiu last year. What did that year bring to Romanian culture?

B. P.: The Romanian ministry of culture made a huge effort. They really focused, putting everything else to one side. Cultural activities really benefitted. It was a kind of rehearsal for us, seeing how we could put to use our successes in western Europe.

So there are some intelligent strategies. But a government can go over the top. And it can end up helping out its friends.

B. P.: It sounds strange, but Romania's domestic political crisis is helping us, culturally. The various camps are fighting each other, there's a lot of fluctuation, so there isn't enough time for people to make use of their personal contacts. But there is a common interest in institutions working effectively, making sure, for example, that the Romanian ambassador to Rome has two writers next to him when he has to explain what Romanian homeless people are doing in the city's parks - showing that we are civilised people. It's essential to have cultural weapons at our disposal.

What about you? You've been present in the Hungarian media with your works on Transylvania and Romania - though many think your name must be a pseudonym.

B. P.: Yes, they think it's a pseudonym for the editor of Magyar Narancs.

It's a simple story - I had lots of pseudonyms at one time, like many in Transylvania, the idea being that the name should be untranslateable. But the point is that the Hungarian press has little coverage of foreign affairs, so I'm glad that I have an opportunity to be published. And Transylvania policy is so obsessed with one single issue, that it's welcome that my writings can highlight some other issues. Here, it's all about Marko versus Tokes, about Rosia Montana, about signs in Hungarian, autonomy, etc. But they don't discuss what's happening in the country. The eastern part of Hungary is starting to get involved with Romania and vice versa. There are things happening to which the Hungarian media is paying no attention.

You appeared with a different voice. People treat you with suspicion in Romania. Here as well?

B. P.: In Hungary, what I do would be completely natural. But I work in a Transylvanian Hungarian media sphere where developments lag what we've seen in Hungary - the media's language is less autonomous, less original - and so my writings have generated a strange responce.

Although I wasn't doing anything unusual. What I'm doing would not be unusual in Hungary or in the more daring parts of the Romanian press.

Are you widely read?

B. P.: It changes, because we are somewhat partisan. People know there are issues we will jump on. That's when our readership grows. That didn't happen with the European Parliament elections, because we consciously kept away from the issue, not feeling that it was a social issue.

There's nothing to analyse, no alternatives, so we kept away. We have endless arguments in the office about how much we should write about public affairs. Increasingly, we think we shouldn't get involved. If there is a clear opinion to be expressed, we give space to it, but otherwise we leave politics to itself. We want to help cultural exchange, because we think it is much more important.

But you've published some fairly provocative articles. No longer?

B. P.: It depends what's going to happen. I think things are moving towards consolidation. The Romanian Hungarian ghetto is grinding itself down.

It's not going to be interesting for much longer. Four years ago there was a need for strong criticism of the RMDSZ, because the RMDSZ was strong. But it's not strong any more, and it's recognised it has to limit itself.

Gergely Nagy