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In this article, we analyze a contemporary Hungarian novel, Gergely Péterfy’s The Stuffed Barbarian, to show how literature can help understand the deep-rooted causes of the current malaise in Central European societies. Through the story of two parallel lives in the late 18th to early 19th centuries, the novel is an indictment of racism, obscurantism, rabble-rousing and the rejection of Western values, which, even today, hinder and even prevent communication with Western Europe. The tragic fate of Angelo Soliman—an African whose body was exhibited after his death at the Vienna Natural History Museum—and the equally tragic life of his friend, the Hungarian intellectual and reformist Ferenc Kazinczy—scorned by Vienna and misunderstood by his own people—denounce the primitive mechanisms of blame as well as the ignorance that engenders it. In this article, we highlight direct references to today’s reality in Hungary, often perceived as pervaded by age-old resentments that prevent true moral integration with Europe.