Arany, Madách, Jókai

Hungarian Literature

Course 1 · Chapter 4 · Arany, Madách & Jókai

After the defeat of 1849 the revolution's poets were dead, silenced or in exile, and Hungary lived under tight Habsburg control until the Compromise of 1867. Three very different writers shaped the period: János Arany, a poet of form and sorrow; Imre Madách, who wrote a single enormous philosophical drama; and Mór Jókai, a prolific novelist who became the nation's favourite storyteller. This chapter follows each, and asks how literature served a nation that could not speak freely. Names and dates are from general knowledge and flagged "check".

János Arany

The man

János Arany (1817 to 1882) was born into a poor family in the Great Plain town of Nagyszalonta, worked as a teacher and clerk and became famous almost overnight with an epic in 1847 (check). He was Petőfi's close friend (Chapter 3), and later secretary and then head of the Hungarian Academy (check).

Toldi

Toldi (1846 to 1847) is a verse narrative about a strong peasant youth who becomes a hero at the court of King Louis; its plain, vivid language won Petőfi's praise, and it became part of every schoolchild's reading. Arany later wrote the sequels Toldi estéje and Toldi szerelme (check).

The ballads

After 1849 he wrote some of the finest ballads in the language, short narrative poems often about guilt, madness and death, such as "V. László" and "Szondi két apródja" (The Two Pages of Szondi) (check the titles). They are admired for their dark tone and craft.

The epic trilogy. Arany planned a larger epic on the Hungarians' origins and Attila, of which only parts were completed (check the works, including Buda halála).
Form and language. He is known for his command of metre and his use of folk language and rhythm. A strong sense of craft sets him apart from the more improvisatory Petőfi.
The later years. His later poetry, in small, introspective lyrics (the Őszikék, Autumn Flowers), is often seen as moving and modern (check).

Imre Madách

One great play Imre Madách (1823 to 1864), a landowner and minor official, wrote Az ember tragédiája (The Tragedy of Man) in 1859 to 1860 and published it in 1861 (check). It is a long dramatic poem in which Adam, guided by Lucifer, is shown scenes from history, from ancient Egypt through Athens, Rome, medieval Europe and a future of science and then of cold and decline, and asks whether human effort has any meaning. The play ends with a message of hope that scholars read in different ways (check). It became a classic of Hungarian literature and is widely staged, though outside Hungary it is little known. It was written after personal disaster and the political failures of 1848 (check).

The form. A drama in fifteen scenes, mixing Faust-like philosophy and historical pageant, usually read rather than staged in full (check the structure).
The question. Whether history has meaning or progress. Different readers have taken it as pessimistic, as hopeful and as a reflection on 1848.
The status. Taught in school, performed at the National Theatre, and quoted in everyday speech (check).

Mór Jókai

Item (check each)	Detail
Life	Mór Jókai (1825 to 1904) took part in the 1848 revolution, wrote for newspapers and became an enormously prolific novelist and a leading public figure.
Output	Over a hundred novels and many shorter works, a vast body of writing.
Style	Romantic, adventurous, humorous and moral, with vivid characters and plots set in history and in his own time.
Well-known novels	Az arany ember (The Man with the Golden Touch, 1872), A kőszívű ember fiai (The Baron's Sons, 1869), and Egy magyar nábob (A Hungarian Nabob, 1853).
Reputation	Hugely popular at home and widely translated in his day, then neglected abroad, though he remains a household name in Hungary.

The national storyteller. His books gave readers a vision of Hungarian history and character that was heroic and warm, and helped to build a common sense of nationhood (check).
Critical views. Some critics call his work sentimental or formulaic, while others praise his invention and humour. The disagreement is itself informative.
After 1867. He supported the Compromise and the political order that followed, and was a member of parliament (check).

A British comparison Compare Walter Scott and Charles Dickens, whose very popular novels also shaped how a national public saw its history and society (check the comparison). Jókai's role as an immensely popular storyteller who is better known in his own country than abroad has parallels with them.

Check the details Dates, titles and output counts are from general knowledge, and the English titles of many works vary between translations. Verify against a literary history and the library catalogue before quoting.

Exercises

Exercise 1

Compare Arany and Petőfi: their backgrounds, their styles and what each contributed to Hungarian poetry.

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Exercise 2

Summarise the idea of The Tragedy of Man in a few sentences and explain why it can be read as both pessimistic and hopeful.

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Exercise 3

Explain why Jókai was so popular at home and so little known abroad, and name two things you would check to test your explanation.

→ Solution

Quick Reference

Arany: 1817 to 1882; Toldi, the ballads, Őszikék (check)
Madách: 1823 to 1864; The Tragedy of Man, 1861 (check)
Jókai: 1825 to 1904; over a hundred novels (check)
Context: after 1849 and the Compromise of 1867 (check)
The caution: popularity at home does not guarantee a reputation abroad