Literary Journal 2018/4. Várad, Holnap, Ady

The issue entitled Várad, Holnap, Ady (Várad, Tomorrow, Ady) of Literary Journal focuses on the period of the birth of modern Hungarian literature, commemorates the one-time Nagyvárad (today Oradea, Romania) as an economic, commercial and cultural center, as well as the A Holnap (The Tomorrow) as a literary society and anthology, and Endre Ady, providing an introduction to the Ady Centenary held next year. The first part evokes the spirituality of Nagyvárad at the turn of the century in its diversity, thus not only in the context of literary history, but also in the context of local history, linguistics and music history. After this, it provides an insight into of works of the authors of the anthology of A Holnap: Mihály Babits, Gyula Juhász, Ákos Dutka, Tamás Emőd, Jutka Miklós, Béla Balázs and Endre Ady, and further writings deal with these writers’ works and life related to the given period and to Várad. Further articles in the paper focus on Ady – the modernity of his art, his lyrical works about love, the social and literary historical significance of his poetry, or the question of the topicality of his oeuvre. Interviews with literary historians along the imaginary Budapest – Várad axis point to the diversity of trends of the age, the cornerstones of cultural organization. The compilation helps to understand the aesthetics, cultural and literary political dilemmas of the past, and highlights how Endre Ady’s poetry and personality and the creative association of A Holnap may have become part of the canon and even constitute a cult.