Júlia Apraxin’s Unknown Radical Folk Drama in 19th-Century Hungary: The Reimagining of Roma Identity ¹

Abstract In the latter half of the 19 th century, the restructuring of society and the spread of democratic ideals forced a reassessment of the aristocracy’s role. Values such as honor, courage, and nobility—long viewed as the preserve of the elite—were redefined and applied to groups that had previously been excluded from such moral recognition. This article explores one striking dimension of this cultural transformation: the literary representation of the “Gypsy” in 19 th -century Hungarian literature. It focuses on the startlingly unconventional depiction of Roma identity in Corra, the Gypsy , a recently rediscovered manuscript folk drama by Júlia Apraxin—an aristocratic yet radical female author of mid-19 th -century Hungary.