Annihilated Faces

Reflections on Zsolt Harsányi's short story “Karácsony a gályán” [Christmas on the Galley]

Abstract

The study analyses Zsolt Harsányi's short story Christmas on the Galleon in the context of the literary treatment of Protestant galley slavery. In the course of the analysis, I will examine previous literary representations of the galley slave theme, with particular reference to Bálint Kocsi Csergő's memoir, and then focus on how this historical trauma is represented in Harsányi's work. The paper also sheds light on Harsányi's literary career and his evaluation of it as a piece of pulp fiction. In analysing the short story, I deal with issues such as physical and mental suffering, the loss of human dignity, the saving power of faith, and the possibility of forgiveness in the context of a tragic story with Christmas symbolism. The short story can play an important role in the literary history of the Gaelic novel.