It is freely available through the following link as an open source project:
https://ebook.ek.szte.hu/index.php/btk-angolamerikai-intezet/catalog/book/447/chapter/755

Abstract:

Through understanding the process of postmodernity as a transitionary period, this paper explores the representation of the postmodern identity crisis within CD Projekt Red’s video game Cyberpunk 2077. It is contrasted with Heiner Müller’s drama Hamletmachine, through the theory of the semiotics of the subject. Focusing on Julia Kristeva’s theory of the abject, the analysis examines how these works reflect on their respective cultural paradigm shifts and represent the changing tendencies regarding the constitution of the socially positioned human subject. Hamletmachine establishes Hamlet as a self-conflicting subject within a postmodern framework and introduces the machine as an abject entity, while Cyberpunk 2077 immerses players in an interactive narrative that challenges their socially defined subject positions.

Chicago author–date reference:

Kocsis, Zoltán. 2026. “Hazards of Virtualization: Abjectification and Immersion in Cyberpunk 2077.” In New Horizons in English and American Studies: Papers from Endorsing Excellence, edited by Ágnes Zsófia Kovács, Olga Kajtár-Pinjung, and Malek Benghanem, 197–215. Szeged: Institute of English and American Studies, University of Szeged. https://doi.org/10.14232/peas.2026.1.13

New Horizons in English and American Studies: Papers from Endorsing Excellence

New Horizons in English and American Studies: Papers from Endorsing Excellence is an interdisciplinary collection originating from TDK/OTDK workshops at the University of Szeged and cooperation with the University of the West, Timişoara. Bringing together student and supervisor research across BA, MA, and PhD levels, its fourteen chapters explore topics including cognitive semantics, race, trauma, Gothic and horror fiction, cultural memory, photography, cinema, digital media, and my contribution regarding Cyberpunk 2077. Collectively, the volume demonstrates the methodological diversity and transnational character of contemporary English and American studies. Official publication page.

Chicago author–date reference

Kovács, Ágnes Zsófia, Olga Kajtár-Pinjung, and Malek Benghanem, eds. 2026. New Horizons in English and American Studies: Papers from Endorsing Excellence. Papers in English and American Studies 29. Szeged: Institute of English and American Studies, University of Szeged. https://doi.org/10.14232/peas.2026.1

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Growing out of our collaborative research at the Digital Humanities Laboratory of the University of Szeged, the chapter reflects the sustained hard work, expertise, and commitment of the entire team. An important part of the project was our use of the tool, AVOBMAT—Analysis and Visualisation of Bibliographic Metadata and Texts—which supported our analysis and visualisation of patterns among the foreign authors represented in A Hét and Nyugat. It was a genuine honour to work alongside such dedicated colleagues and contribute to this publication, and I am immensely proud of what we achieved together.

Hungarian Literature as World Literature reconsiders Hungarian literature not as an isolated national tradition, but as an open geo-poetic and geopolitical space shaped by translation, cultural circulation, appropriation, and transnational exchange. Instead of measuring Hungarian works against a fixed international canon, the project investigates how literary forms, genres, ideas, and identities move between languages and cultures. It consequently challenges the rigid opposition between national and world literature, demonstrating that Hungarian cultural identity has always developed through dialogue with European and, more recently, global traditions.

Edited by Péter Hajdu and Zoltán Z. Varga, the English-language volume comprises an introduction and twenty-one case studies covering Hungarian literary culture from the fifteenth century to the present. Its five thematic sections address early European intellectual networks, literary constructions of national identity, geo-poetical affiliations, the relationship between literature and political history, and the international circulation of Hungarian literature through translation, theatre, and film. As a collaborative and inter-institutional research project, the volume situates Hungarian literary history within broader comparative debates while making its distinctive Central European experiences accessible to an international readership. For further details visit the project and book overview.

Chicago author–date reference:

Labov, Jessie, Szilvia Maróthy, Róbert Péter, and Zoltán Kocsis. 2026. “Looking for the World in Hungarian Literature: Foreign Authors in Early Twentieth-Century Periodicals.” In Hungarian Literature as World Literature, edited by Péter Hajdu and Zoltán Z. Varga, 89–104. New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

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It is my honour to announce that finally my first official publication has been released by the University of Szeged this year! Mainly, this topic was my Bachelor’s Thesis for English Studies and I managed to take it to the National Students’ Conference as well during the Spring of 2023. My supervisor was (and still is) the great Dr. Attila Miklós Kiss, who spared no time and good advice to help me through this journey, without him none of this would have been possible. So, here goes my heartfelt thank you for you my wonderful master!

Below I included the abstract of the thesis and a link to both the PDF version and the site of the Institute of English & American Studies. The journal is available for free online.

Abstract:

Critical discussions of post-war British dramas do not usually select the two plays in my title for comparison, but my contention is that if we understand them as cultural practices that problematize the positions of human beings as subjects in society, these two dramas lend themselves to a valid and relevant comparative analysis. On its own, Equus is often analysed through psychoanalysis, but by comparing it to The Birthday Party, this analysis can be further crystallized. Therefore, in this paper, I compare Peter Shaffer’s Equus and Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party in order to identify similarities and differences, which can be used to describe the inner conflicts of individuals who are represented as socially positioned subjects in post-war British society. I aim to use specifically the psychoanalytic approach to build the foundations of the analysis and connect the dramas through the theme of the inner pursuit of passion that is perhaps the most important common aspect they share. As a result, the plays, similarly to their contemporaries, propose the following question: can passion as a unique and authentic value stand in opposition to ideology and can it be a tool, a strategy to escape ideology? The poststructuralist theory of the subject will be the overarching theoretical framework of my investigation, which will enable me to show how both dramas throw light on how ideological technologies work to keep the protagonists of the plays in fixed subject positions.

Link to the official website of the Institute of English & American Studies:

https://www.ieas-szeged.hu/ieas-e-books/

Link to Acta Iuvenum III:

My text starts from page 145.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fbaRC7AcXu5gDLMtk_Q6OQeECMyYdBzI/view

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