HUNGARIAN LITERATURE

Literature written in the Hungarian language from medieval times to the present. During the Middle Ages, most cultural activities in Hungary were carried on in Latin, the language of the clergy. The vernacular began to be used, however, in translations of leg-ends and of Latin religious poetry. The earliest extant Hungarian literary work of importance is a funeral oration that dates from the beginning of the 13th century.

16th to 19th Century.

The first important period of Hungarian literature began with the great 16th-century Reformation, when the Bible was translated into Hungarian, first in 1540 and again in 1591. Outstanding among the poets who flourished during this period were Baron Bálint Balassa (1551–94), who wrote patriotic and religious poems and who is particularly noted for his love poems; Sebastian Tinódi (d. 1556), who wrote historical chronicles in rhymed verse; Miklós Zrinyi (1620–64), author of the volume of verse The Siren of the Adriatic (1651); and István Gyöngyösi (1620–1704), among whose works are the epics Murányi Venus (1664) and Cupidó (1695) in the style of the Latin poet Ovid. Numerous works written in Hungarian during this period deal with law and philology; some are religious polemics.

From the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th, the Habsburg rulers of Hungary attempted to make Hungary part of a great Germanic empire. They encouraged the writing of books in German or Latin and suppressed the use of Hungarian. During the late 18th century the Hungarians, influenced by nationalism, rebelled against the political and literary policy of the Habsburgs. The period was marked by the formation of societies for the cultivation of the Hungarian language and by the founding of a number of publications, among them the first newspaper in Hungarian.

The movement for a strongly classical Hungarian literature was greatly stimulated during the early 19th century by the poet and translator Ferenc Kazinczy (1759–1831), who was instrumental in modernizing the Hungarian language. Among the important poets of the Kazinczy epoch were Mihály Csokonai Vitéz (1773–1805), whose works include the philosophical poem On the Immortality of the Soul and the mock epic Dorothy (1804), and Sándor Kisfaludy, who wrote Legends of the Olden Time in Hungary (1807). National feeling inspired such eminent poets as Sándor Petöfi, whose patriotic poems established him as the national poet of Hungary, and János Arany, author of many ballads and lyrics and of Toldi, an epic poem in 12 cantos, celebrating the exploits of a legendary Hungarian hero. The foundations of the Hungarian modern national drama were laid at this time by Károly Kisfaludy, author of The Mongols in Hungary (1819) and other historical dramas and also of tragedies and comedies of contemporary Hungarian life. Bánk bán, the first modern tragedy in Hungarian, was written in 1815 by József Katona (1791–1830); it is now a classic of the national theater and, in the musical setting by Ferenc Erkel (1810–93), of the Hungarian opera. The most noted fiction writers of the time were Baron Miklós Jósika (1796–1865), who wrote the first Hungarian romantic historical novel, and József Eötvös, a statesman who wrote novels dealing with social and political questions. Interest in Hungarian folk songs and folktales was advanced by the collections of folklore published by János Erdélyi (1814–68) between 1846 and 1848.

The direct expression of Hungarian nationalistic aspirations was prohibited by the Austrian rulers of Hungary after the abortive 1848–49 rebellion; in practice, German rather than Magyar was the favored language. In 1860 Magyar was restored as the official language, but not until the 20th century did Hungarian letters as a whole recover from political blight and the imitative tendencies that largely stifled literary effort during the period of political repression. Among the significant literary works of the time were the poetic drama The Tragedy of Man (1861) by Imre Madách (1823–64); the poetry of János Vajda (1827–97), whose achievements were overlooked until after his death; and the works of several novelists, particularly Mór Jókai, who produced more than 100 romantic novels and whose skill as a storyteller brought him immense popularity, and Kálmán Mikszáth (1847–1910), who wrote humorous tales, such as Saint Peter’s Umbrella (1895) and A Ghost in Lublo (1896) and stories of politicians and bureaucrats. The playwright Gergely Csiky (1842–91) is noted principally for The Proletariat.

20th Century.

The development of Hungarian literature during the 20th century was greatly influenced by the literary review Nyugat (The West), founded in 1908. Outstanding among the poets of this generation were the political revolutionary Endre Ady (1877–1919), noted for innovative themes and techniques in such works as Blood and Gold (1907); Mihály Babits (1883–1941), also an essayist; and the poet and short-story writer Dezsö Kosztolányi (1885–1936). Zsigmond Móricz (1879–1942), generally considered the greatest Hungarian novelist, is noted for his novels Gold Nugget (1910) and Butterfly (1925), for his historical trilogies Transylvania (1935) and Rózsa Sándor (1940), and for his short stories Seven Pence (1909) and Barbarians (1935). The satirical works of the humorist Frigyes Karinthy (1888–1938) include Travel Around My Head (1937; trans. 1938). Perhaps the most famous of modern Hungarian writers is the playwright Ferenc Molnár, author of Liliom (1909; trans. 1921).

Through the work of these authors, extraordinary productivity took place in Hungarian literature in the years following World War I. A number of new writers appeared, especially in poetry, where the outstanding figures included Lörincz Szabó (1900–57), a highly individualistic and subtle lyricist; Gyula Illyés (1902–83), known also for his essays and biographies; Attila József (1905–37), whose verse combines ancient Hungarian folklore with elements of modern psychology; and Miklós Radnóti (1909–44), an elegiac poet murdered by Hungarian National Socialists. Outstanding prose writers of this period include Lajos Zilahy (1891–74), playwright and author of the epic novel The Dukays (trans. 1949), probably the best description of prewar Hungary; Tibor Déry (1894–1977), a former Communist and one of the leaders of the revolution of 1956 against the Communists, known for his novels The Unfinished Sentence (1946) and Niki (1956; trans. 1957); and Laszló Németh (1901– 75), especially noted for his novel Revulsion (1947; trans. 1965). After the failure of the revolution of 1956, several Hungarian writers went into exile, and little significant literature was produced in Hungary itself. One exception is the work of Ferenc Juhász (1928– ), whose verse written between 1949 and 1967 has been published in an English translation entitled The Boy Changed into a Stag (1970).