"Take a closer look, gentlemen!" Creating and Recreating Minka Czóbel's Literary Memory: Making Myth in Print and Digital Media

Abstract

We have a false image of Minka Czóbel. The myth that she was an ugly woman originated from a photograph in a 1974 book. Another widely known photo of her, one of the first search results on Google, is in fact of another person. The fake 'counter-photo', which has been circulating since the 2010s, tries to overwrite the myth: it seems a good choice for articles and events as it finally shows a beautiful woman. Czóbel's poetry is often interpreted in the light of narratives created around her photographs. This herstory rewrites the interpretations of her texts and forums; the second started on an online literary blog, and is repeated on increasingly more blogs. My paper explores the process of how literary history writing can (presumably) build an entire narrative from a single photograph and then reinforce and sustain it over decades. The figure of the ugly, lonely, unsuccessful creative woman was invented by (male) literary historians connected to the official institutional system, paradoxically, with canonizing intenti. The woman who is to be canonized can thus remain under control, her interpretation is bound and determined by the establishment.