In my novel The City of Earthly Desire I conceptualized tradition and everything it contains within the symbol of the white stag, while communist ideology was, fittingly enough, represented by the red star. I chose the two symbols for the novel because they were historically appropriate for the time and place and partly because I believe they represent a deeper archetypal truth. The white stag appears in Hungarian mythology and the red star was ubiquitous in the country when it was ruled by the communists. I personally remember encountering the red star everywhere when I visited my family as a child.
But as I wrote the novel, I came to the conclusion that the struggle between the white stag and the red star was not limited to the pages of my book or a period in history. It is ongoing, even today and every one of us is forced to make a choice between the two at least once in our lives; however, it is more likely that this choice is actually broken down into an endless series of smaller choices, hundreds, perhaps thousands of them over a course of a lifetime. Regardless of how it happens, one thing is clear - when it comes to selecting between the white stag and red star, the choices you make are of monumental importance.
But as I wrote the novel, I came to the conclusion that the struggle between the white stag and the red star was not limited to the pages of my book or a period in history. It is ongoing, even today and every one of us is forced to make a choice between the two at least once in our lives; however, it is more likely that this choice is actually broken down into an endless series of smaller choices, hundreds, perhaps thousands of them over a course of a lifetime. Regardless of how it happens, one thing is clear - when it comes to selecting between the white stag and red star, the choices you make are of monumental importance.
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