Timeless Nation

Sandor Petofl

He was born in 1823 in a village of the Great Plain of peasant parents. A talented but restless student, he did no complete his studies. Instead he led a rather bohemian existence for a while. Finally he found his true vocation in writing and settled in Pest, working as the contributor and editor of various publications. On the 15th of March 1848 he became the leader of the bloodless uprising in Pest and his poem, "Arise Magyars!" became the battle hymn of the freedom struggle. At the outbreak of the hostilities he joined the national army and became the aide of general Bern whom he worshipped. He married Julia Szendrey, the inspiration of his love poems. At the end of the freedom war, Petofi died on the battlefield at the age of 26, in 1849.

His poem, "At the End of September", written to his young bride on their honeymoon, quoted in chapter 7 and in the Appendix, illustrates Petofi’s art which, for lack of a better term, we call classical. His language is characterised by its beautiful simplicity and the ability to say the right word at the right place. He expresses his thoughts in meaningful, short sentences and pictures of nature without any romantic symbolism. He manages to maintain a disciplined harmony between his soaring, romantic imagination and strict, classic rhythm, rhyme and metre. The picture of the autumn landscape evokes thoughts about the passing of time, described in the first line of the second strophe in one of the most beautiful sentences in Hungarian literature. The poet’s reflections on death and love in the second strophe are devoid of sentimentality and his own protestations of eternal love in the third strophe are not marred by unnecessary pathos.

His love poelry, inspired by his wife, reveals his sincere, almost puritanical morality: deep sensitivity without needless sentimentality.

A true son of the people, he speaks their simple language without affectation. He describes village and peasant life in his idyllic poems with their sad and humorous episodes; in the manner of the folk poet. His smooth rhythm and language could easily be set to music and many of his poems became popular song.

He loves his Great Plain, his native soil, its unlimited horizons and thoughtful silences. His elegiac praises of the land are intertwined with thoughts of love and patriotism.

His dominant emotion was his love of freedom. His moving credo has been translated into more than one hundred languages:

He identifies his personal freedom with the nation’s struggle for its freedom and beyond it he dreams of a romantic—humanistic freedom for all mankind. Love for his nation carries him to the extremes of exuberance and dejection. In one of his his poems he describes, in a sombre vision, his own manner of heroic death.

Even his narrative poetry shows his lyric qualities. His descriptions of the fairy-tale adventures of "John the Hero", an epic folktale, have the quality of the popular tale told on winter evenings in the village spinnery.

It may be interesting to know that a word—count made of Petofi’s vocabulary shows that his most frequently used noun was "man" and that his favourite adjective was "good". This good, great humanist rightfully occupies a place of honour in the hearts of all Magyars.

Janos Arany

The son of an impoverished noble, Arany was born in 1817 in a little town of the Great Plain. His father taught him Hungarian and Latin writing and the elements of their Protestant faith. Eventually, the talented boy completed his education at the Debrecen Reformed College and returned to his birthplace, where he worked as the village teacher until the 1848 war. He served in the national army (as a simple soldier) and had to hide for a while after 1849. Amnestied, he became a secondary teacher in another Great Plain town, then settled in Budapest where he became the Secretary of the Academy and the foremost man of letters of his time. He died in 1882.

He knew the soul, the language and the folklore of his peasant people. He collected folksongs and tales and even wrote poems in the vein of a folk song. He also studied foreign literature of folkish inspiration, reading and translating widely.

His inspiration stemmed from his understanding of the Magyar people and his epic style suggests the calm wisdom of the Plain and the millenia—old humanistic realism of its hardy people.

His first masterpiece, "Toldi" (1846), an epic of classical popular realism, earned him national recognition and Petofi’s friendship. This folk-tale in verse is based on local legends and medieval chronicles and tells the adventures of a popular Magyar hero in the XIVth century. Arany’s hero is a typical Magyar with all the characteristics of the people. This work of great human value has never been translated: its rich Magyar language defies translation. The second and third parts of the epic ("Toldi’s Love" and "Toldi’s Eve") are reminiscent of a medieval romance and had less attraction for Arany’s readers.

After 1849 Arany found the form of expression of which he eventually became the greatest representative in the Hungarian language: the ballad. He was first inspired by the Transylvanian and Scottish ballads — and he was the first to note the remarkable affinity between these two. Each ballad is a little drama written in concise style and with a deep understanding of the workings of the human mind. There is little background description, the action is told in a dialogue. Most of the ballads are tales of crime and punishment. The crime is instigated by the powerful human passions of hate or love, and the punishment is meted out by the criminal’s own conscience: it is usually madness.

Of Arany’s early ballads, the gothic horror—tale "Bor the Hero" deserves closer attention. Its universal theme makes it fairly translatable. The allegoric ballad "The Bards of Wales" was written in 1857. Francis Joseph, the Emperor, was visiting defeated Hungary and Hungarian poets were asked to write at ode in his praise. Arany answered with this symbolic ballad based on a dubious historical event, the revenge of King Edward I against the bards of Wales who refused to sing his praise in Arany’s ballad the cruel king receives the usual punishment the song of the martyred bards drives him to madness.

Arany’s later ballads are based on themes from Magyar peasant and urban life, such as the "Corn—husking" and "Red Rebek", most of them untranslatable because of their compact racy language. Many short descriptive poems share the fate of the ballads: the "Family Circle", an idyllic description of peasant family evemng has not yet found its translator.

Toward the end of the oppression period, Arany turned to Hungarian history for his own and his readers’ inspiration The "Death of Buda", a magnificent epic, is the first part of trilogy which was to contain a cycle of Magyar legends and myths in it, Arany tells the popular myth of the Hungarians and Huns’ common origin in the tone of a medieval minstrel Unfortunately, he never completed the trilogy.

Whilst essentially an epic poet, Arany did create in his old age meditative lyric poetry of considerable charm. These poems are mostly reminiscences and melancholic reflections interspersed with wisdom, humour and often resignation, as in the elegy "I lay the Lute down". Arany was very reticent about his patriotism his deep love of his people and country remained bidden it his allegories and tales most of the time.

Arany, still a favourite of Hungarians, deserves to be better known abroad.

Some poets of the oppression period

Imre Madach (1823—1864) found ample emotional inspiration for his great drama in his own, tragic life. Born and educated in northern Hungary, he suffered persecution and prison for his participation in the freedom struggle. During hi’ imprisonment his wife became unfaithful to him. Madach divorced her, but never ceased to love her: she was the only woman in his life. He lived under tragic family circumstances and died soon after the completion of his great opus: the drama "Tragedy of Man" (1860).

In this Faustian tableau of the fate of mankind Adam and Eve are guided by Lucifer through various phases of human history. The Devil shows the successive frustrations of their descendants to the ancestors of mankind. The final scene, however, ends with a message of hope: God’s last words to Adam are: "Man — strive and have faith, unfaltering faith..." The message of the drama is Madach’s "pessimistic idealism": though often futile, human endeavours are rewarded by the very satisfaction of one’s own courage and faith. Madach presents the main characters with perfect modern psychology. Adam is the naive idealist who is easily discouraged and Eve is the "eternal woman" who lifts his spirits with her inflexible faith and love.

Mihaly Tompa’s poetry (1817—1868) is characterised by emotional melancholy and an interest in folk poetry. His elegies, written in his upper—Hungarian village (he was a Protestant pastor), reflect the pessimism and moral preoccupations of his times but they present some pleasing tableaus of rustic landscape and stoic philosophy.

Janos Vajda (1827—1897), the lonely, sad poet of memories and forest tableaus, and Gyula Reviczky (1855—1889), the gentle bard of the lonely city—dwellers, illustrate the mood of the Hungarian poets after the Compromise. They did not share the optimism of the politicians and their dissonant melancholy made them unpopular in the prevailing atmosphere of self—deluding happiness.

Mor Jokai

The most popular novelist of the era, Jokai was a Trans-danubian by birth (in 1825) and temperament. Though connected with Petofl’s circle in 1848, he became more moderate during 1849 and so received an amnesty after the failure of the freedom struggle. Soon he began to publish his novels and short stories and in 56 years of literary activity had over one— hundred volumes published. He died in 1904. He is still the most popular novelist in Hungary and is wellknown abroad in many translations.

Jokai’s first historical novels, written during the oppression, describe imaginary events in Hungary during the Turkish occupation. He disregards the historical truth and changes the Turks and Hungarians into heroes and villains (the villains are often Hungarians, the heroes often Turks), painting a fantasy world of "Goodies" and "Baddies" whose main concern is personal pride and honour, not the country’s plight. After the Compromise he turned to the more recent period of the Freedom War with his "The Baron’s Sons". One of the finest prose epics of Hungarian literature, this novel of romance and realism describes the great war through the fate of one aristocratic family. Jokai’s historical—social novels of the Reform Age (early XIXth century) present well—documented and accurate pictures of the Magyar society of that era. The "New Landowner" is a thoughtful work describing, with surprisingly deep psychology, the assimilation of an Austrian estate owner settled in Hungary after 1849.

Jokai’s most popular social novel, the "Dark Diamonds", suggests easy solutions to the social problems of the working class (miners) who are redeemed by the joint efforts of the patriotic scientist—hero (the owner of the mine) and the beautiful, chaste and brilliant daughter of a miner. The two transform a mining village into a Utopian community where everybody lives happily ever after — including the two heroes. A commendable soiution to labour—management disputes.

"The Man with the Golden Touch" is a more realistic picture of the cruel world of finance, which is conquered by a hero with the Midas touch and the Magyar peasant’s common sense.

The hundreds of short stories and novelettes written by Jokai were the favourite intellectual diet of the Sunday-paper reading bourgeoisie, offering relaxing, uncomplicated, pleasant entertainment without any cumbersome messages.

Jokai’s topics include the complete range of human experience (and a few inhuman ones), all possible periods of history (and some impossible ones), all known corners of the world (and a few known to Jokai only), but only two emotions: love and hate. He describes history not as it was but as it should have been, human relationships as they might have been and science as it could have been.

He has to be read with a grain of salt and a liking of the unlikely, a wish to get away from it all. . . He has tales to tell — hundreds of them — and he tells them with humour and a twinkle in his eye. He must have enjoyed writing them just as we enjoy reading them today. He does not preach, does not teach — he entertains.

They call him the "greatest Hungarian teller of tales." In a nation in which every second man is a politician, this is real praise.

KaIman Mikszath

In many respects Mikszath was the opposite of Jokai. Born (in 1847) of a poor bourgeois family of northern Hungary, he moved in the circles of the lower middle—class country folk. Eventually he settled in Budapest as a writer (and part—time politician, like Jokai, but then who was not a politician in those days?) He died in 1910.

Mikszath is a realist. His humour always has the touch of cynicism and his view of society is usually expressed in the form of a satire. His characters are not heroes, but complex personalities with virtues as well as vices. He began his literary career as a writer of short stories, such as the collections "Slovak Kinfolk" and the "Good Paloc", in which he describes the simple peasants of the North: Hungarians and Slovaks and their peaceful co—existence. Mikszath also discovered the world of children —whom Jokai ignored. From his children’s stories arose his popular novel "The Two Mendicant Students", one of the all—time favourites of Hungarian youngsters.

Mikszath tackled the problems of simple people in his novels and novelettes. "Saint Peter’s Umbrella" is a delightful mixture of legend, fairy tale and social satire: the story of a successful search for happiness. The short novel, "Magic Kaftan", describes with historical and psychological accuracy the life of a Magyar town under Turkish rule, "The Case of the Noszty Boy" is a social satire, a fine and instructive picture of early XXth century Hungarian society: it concerns the conflict of a conceited but penniless nobleman who wants to marry the daughter of a rich bourgeois. The historical—psychological novel, "The Black City", is based on a true incident of the XVIIth century: the tragic conflict between an aristocratic county sheriff and a bourgeois town mayor, ending in the death of the one and the unhappiness of the other. Both sides are represented by personalities who possess an equal number of virtues and weaknesses.

Mikszath looks at his characters with compassion and understanding, though he criticises their actions, as in the short story "Gentry" in which he describes the hypocritical vanity of the impoverished country—nobility of northern Hungary.

His narrow choices of local Hungarian themes and his witty, racy language, made it very hard to translate his works.

The novelist and playwright Ferenc Herczeg (1863—1954), a defender of aristocratic values, was the favourite author of the upper middle—class urban society of Hungary before and after World War I. He depicted the Hungarian "high society" in pleasant, flattering tableaus with just a touch of satirical humour without serious criticism.

His many dramas and comedies have pleased thousands of theatre—goers with their ingenious plots, humour and technical perfection. His historic dramas revolve around conflicts of well— defined personalities. ("Byzantium", "Ladislas the Orphan King" and "The Bridge"). His comedies do not analyse, criticise or satirise: their sole aim is to entertain (The "Gyurkovics Family" cycle). His social novels and short stories were the best—sellers of the "happy years" before the War and they brought back nostalgic memories to the readers of the difficult post-war years. His historic novels ("Pagans", "The Gate of Life") present clear, credible characterisations and colourful background tableaus, sometimes at the expense of the historic truth.

Timeless Nation