Moonlighter's paradise: From the land of iron and steel to the land of irony and stealing.

摘要

Summary. This dissertation explores double binds, seemingly "impossible situations," tricksters, and their cultural representations in Hungary. In this dissertation I explore the responses to double binds, such as denial, dissimulation, disengagement, self-abuse, suicide, and rebellion. I argue that double binds are used as a mechanism of state power in Hungary and the USSR in order to maintain patron-client relations. Double bind relations create a situation where everyone is guilty of criminal activities and thus is subject to punishment.;Methodology. I employ participant-observation, discourse analysis, film and literary criticism, symbolic analysis, formal, and informal interviews.;Conclusions. I have found that double binds can be generated out of diarchies and double binds, as a, mechanism of power, reinforce traditional patron-client relations, corruption, and widespread illegality in Eastern Europe. Double bind relations motivate subjects to engage in moonlighting, tax evasion, smuggling, and other illegal activities to "make a living" and to "survive" through dissimulation and disengagement. Hungarian culture shows representations of double binds and "tricksterism" in films, novels, jokes, laments, and everyday discourses.;Key words: Double bind, crime, corruption, dissimulation, disengagement, svejkism, trickster, Hungary.