Abstract

Edgar manages to invert the subordinate function of generally accepted objective indicators of membership of a particular national group—language, religion, common history, and territory—into the essential mode of imperative distinction shaping the unique national identity. In other words, it is the fresco and the value assigned to it that defines and consigns meaning to Catholic or Orthodox denomination, the refugees, and their hostages in Pentecost, not vice versa. The fact that it is only after they learn about the hypothetically enormous estimated value of the painting that Fr Petr Karolyi and FrSergei Bojovic fervently announce the fresco (as well as the abandoned church where it was discovered) as belonging to their particular denomination, which enunciates that each of the national constituents in their lack of distinctive features suffers from processes similar to the major redesigning and reconstruction of the sense of identity in the nation.

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