Hungarian literature

Of the nations in the south-east of Europe, the Hungarians, or Magyars, are probably the most renowned, and at the same time, the least known. Although their extensive country h...

Hungary, in extent larger than the United Kingdom, is, geographically speaking, one large basin, watered by one large river and its affluents, and bounded by one imposing range...

The preceding short survey of the history of Hungary may now be followed by a brief sketch of the character and temper of the Hungarians. The Magyar proper, and all the numerous...

The Hungarian language is totally different in vocabulary and grammar from the Teutonic, Latin, Slav, or Celtic languages. Between Russian and German, or between Russian and Eng...

The history of Hungarian Literature is divided into four distinct periods. The first comprises the time from the advent of the Magyars in Hungary to the Reformation (896-1520);...

1520-1711. The Reformation made rapid headway in Hungary. From the very beginning, Protestantism in Hungary had a political element, in that its rise was coeval with the accessi...

During the seventeenth century Hungary was oppressed by two evils of apparently antagonistic character; either of which, however, was to have the same fatal effect on Hungarian...

Amidst the din and excitement of the endless wars in Hungary, both civil and foreign, during the seventeenth century, the agitated mind of the common people vented itself in num...

During the period in question very little was done for historic and scientific studies. John Cséri de Apáca (1625-1660), an enthusiastic student and patriot, published a small H...

1711-1772. The period bounded by the years 1711-1772 is one of decline. During these years, which comprise the reigns of Emperor Charles VI., and most of that of Austria’s great...

In poetry proper, it is for the present period customary, but scarcely necessary, to mention the Jesuit Francis Faludi (1704-1779), who has put some wise saws and moral platitud...

1772-1825. After a period of decadence, lasting for over sixty years, Hungarian Literature was again brought to a state of revival and progress, which has gone on almost uninter...

The first of these “schools” to publish serious works with the intention of reforming the literature of Hungary, were the members of the Hungarian Guard at Vienna, and chiefly G...

The formation of different schools of literature was of great benefit to the growth and advance of Hungarian poetry and prose. Many a minor talent could and did, by clinging to...

In the literature of all civilized nations we meet with certain writers, whose great effect on their contemporaries was owing less to the absolute excellency of single works of...

The great campaigns fought by Austria against the French Revolution and Napoleon were in reality the prelude of the subsequent warfare of the Conservative and reactionary classe...

The romanticism started by Kisfaludy did not, however, retard the other literary movements in Hungary. The Hungarian language is in many ways too closely akin to the classic lan...

The enlightened foreigner from France, England or Germany, reading about the allegedly great literary works written by Hungarians, Poles, Czechs or other nationalities who have...

1825-1850. Count Stephen Széchenyi, “_the greatest Magyar_” as Kossúth called him, was one of those rare patriots whose enthusiasm is tempered by the most careful respect for fa...

The _rôle_ of Kazinczy as mentor and model for the younger generation of his time was now allotted to a very gifted poet, Charles Kisfaludy, brother of Alexander (see page 101)....

The work of Kisfaludy was great. He charmed his readers, and thus awakened an interest in Hungarian Literature in circles that had hitherto been callous to the intellectual revi...

The national and literary current of which Vörösmarty was the chief exponent brought several other great epic works to the surface. Andreas Horvát de Pázmánd (1778-1839) was wor...

Despite the very great advance made in the development of their literature up to 1830, the Hungarians were still wanting in one of the necessary elements of the growth of truly...

The rapid growth of Hungarian Literature since 1825, shows chiefly in works of poetry proper; that is, in verse. Hungarian prose had in the first ten years of this period receiv...

The second great novelist in that period was Eötvös. Born in 1813, he received a careful education, and after extensive travels in western Europe, embraced the judicial career f...

At the present day most people of culture outside Hungary know the name of Jókai, the Hungarian novelist; few, if any, know the name of Sigismund Kemény. Yet, of the two, Kemény...

The poets and writers of the Magyars, whom we have been studying in the preceding chapters, were, in a lesser or higher degree, authors of works whose excellence was, to a large...

Outside Hungary, the name of John Arany is seldom heard; and western readers will be astonished to hear that Arany is considered by many of the best known Magyar critics the gre...

The dramatic literature of the Hungarians, as may be seen from the preceding chapters, was, at the beginning of the twenties of this century, in a most backward condition. For r...

In now approaching the modern novel in Hungary we are at once met, touched, almost overwhelmed by the dazzling light and lustre of one commanding genius of the Magyar novel, Mau...

In the preceding chapters we have essayed to give some idea of the work of the leading poets and writers of Magyar literature. The very narrow limits of this sketch of the liter...

The number of _lyrical poets_ is very great in modern Hungary. It may be stated that, as a rule, a Magyar poet has more chances of attracting public attention by a good lyrical...

It would be impossible, to write even the shortest sketch of Hungarian Literature without dwelling on one of the less conspicuous, yet chief sources of suggestion and inspiratio...

In conclusion, a few words on the Hungarian literary productions outside _belles-lettres_ proper. From the pre-eminently political character of the Magyars, it may be inferred a...