Literary Journal 2019/1. Jókai

On the occasion of the Hungarian Prose Day on February 18, 2019, the Literary Journal honoured the impressive work of Mór Jókai, encouraging the learn about the oeuvre more thoroughly and (re)read it.

In this compilation, we can read about the turning points in Jókai’s early career and the locations of his life in Budapest, and among other things, poet Krisztián Tóbiás reports in the interview with him on the aspects of Jókai’s writing career in Balatonfüred. An exciting study explores Jókai’s relationship to money, and we can get to know the author as a father. Literary historian György Eisemann provides an insight into the mysteries of the critical edition of Jókai’s works; we can also read about the history of the writer’s legacy and how László Németh saw Jókai. We can read a discussion with literary historian Ágnes Hansági about the timeliness of Jókai’s oeuvre, the humour and modernity of the writer. The periodical publishes a study on the film adaptations of Jókai’s works and the author’s relationship with Ferenc Liszt. The editors asked Katalin Czibula, a professor of methodology, about the compulsory readings written by Jókai and the current dilemmas of literary education. A separate chapter deals with the novel of the next century, as the greatest Hungarian storyteller was also the father of modern Hungarian science fiction. A series of studies, interviews, and analyzes are interwoven with the testimonies of writers and literary historians about Jókai.