Literary Journal 2016/1. Zsigmond Móricz

We present this issue with a quotation from the poet Lőrinc Szabó on Zsigmond Móricz: „How splendid vital force, how rich talent, how calm perseveration! He somehow gathered the whole nation in himself, built the entire Hungarian people into his own genius. Those talking to him had the impression of Móricz knowing personally all the towns, villages and farmsteads, lords and peasants in the Duna-Tisza region. All the pasts and lands, events and family trees, passions and relations, littleness and greatness. His short and stubby figure could be seen all the time and everywhere, on ships, trains and cars. A wanderer of the country, he would take a thick cane stick in his hand, buy a ticket to anywhere, and travel as a poet, with improvised breaks that only he could understand. He gathered a plethora of experience I have not seen in anyone else inside and outside literary circles; his memory was just as excellent as his creative force at presenting hundreds or perhaps thousands of Hungarian destinies and figures in his writings and even conversations. The treasure he turned into genius, a spiritual form, is huge, and so is the treasure he eventually took with him.” (Lőrinc Szabó: The Wanderer of the Nation)

The reader of the latest issue of Literary Journal does not only get an insight into the wonderful world of a writer, but is also invited to reflect upon serious economical and societal questions. This time it is the vision of Zsigmond Móricz (also in the sense of his photography) that presents us the Hungary before World War II., where people were concerned about many issues perhaps the same way we are. The authors of Literary Journal, when re-reading the Móricz oeuvre, do not only mind the great novels and short stories, but also the reportages, notes and letters. The essays explore the artistic evolution, the eventful life and the peculiar style of Móricz, all looking for the same secret as the scholars of almost 100 years ago: the source and nature of Móricz’s unique creative force.