Inability of Crossing Borders: Csaba Székely’s Bányavidék [Mine District] Trilogy

There are countless ways of crossing borders, be they physical, geographic, social, economic, cultural or psychological. When coming up against a border, one has two options: either to cross it or to remain within. This essay investigates Csaba Székely’s Bányavidék [Mine District] trilogy primarily from the perspective of such concepts of imagology as region, center-periphery dichotomy, identity, image, representation, as well as stereotypes and clichés, and examines whether the playwright truly deconstructs such stereotyped representations of the specific geographical and cultural space and its people the trilogy focuses on.