Central Europe’s borders are in motion and tend to have different permeability, especially in the last century. Geopolitical concepts of Hungary’s borders have always formed a substantial part of its identity and, precisely because of their dynamic developments, are echoed in its cultural self-perception. As is the case in literature, for example. New border drawings characterise the societies they affect, and a central narrative understands the loss of territory as an inherent part of national identity. All these aspects are part of spatial concepts in literature, which can be seen as a medium for reflecting on the political. This applies to literary texts from the early 1920s in the context of the Treaty of Trianon (for instance the notion of Heimat) to contemporary literature after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact states (for example, the description of dystopian spaces in post-socialism). The multi-layered spatial concepts of Central Europe will therefore be analysed in relation to Hungarian literature, mainly using the example of the topographical barrier and nation-state border along the Carpathian Mountains.