The efforts of the communist regime, following the Revolution of 1956, to channel discussion of the events of the Revolution into a simplistic ideological opposition exerted (and arguably continue to exert) a powerful influence on political discourse in Hungary, in spite of numerous challenges issued against the validity of this opposition by historians and political scientists. It is possible that literature may offer new perspectives from which the terms that have exercised such a

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... influence on this discourse can be reevaluated. This discussion of works of poetry by French, German, and American poets on the events of 1956 in Hungary examines the ways in which not only these events, but also the terms in which they were cast were perceived and thrown into question by writers living outside Hungary, several of whom also wrote influential essays on politics. Moreover, it considers how literary theory, specifically because it makes language and the creation of meaning the object of its inquiry, provides critical strategies through which the terms of this discourse can be deconstructed and deflated, creating opportunities for new (reconstructions of our understanding of these events.