Just as last weeks reading centered around the narrative and the counter narrative around a particular event, namely 9/11, this week's reading deals with the issue of narrative as it is applied to the history of an entire country and the formation of national identities around these narratives. In places where political governance is stable and has a degree of legitimacy due to continuity and popular support, a national identity is more widely accepted. In a case like Hungary's in the novel, where the shape and form of Hungary's national character is very much up in the air, as after the collapse of Nazi rule, the Communists seized control of the country in the 1950's and were deposed in the 1980's, leading to a divisive split between the Hungarian diaspora over what the country should look like.…show more content… However, while the government does have a great deal of authority in deciding central tenants of culture, they are not the only drivers of cultural evolution. Caught in between during the Communist period are the ordinary people, who when trapped in the stifling totalitarianism of the Eastern Bloc, who expressed their defiance to the state-driven attempts at control and uniformity by hosting “guerrilla establishments” or illegal bars or dance halls that would operate underground to provide an outlet for expression in a society that controlled most forms of