The Philosophy of Travel

Zsigmond Justh (1863–1894) was one of the important figures to usher in the 20^th century of the Hungarian literature. His novels, short stories and especially his journals set the stage for the Nyugat generation. He traveled the world of his time as an eccentric and tragic dandy – and this is the first time his travel writings are published in a book.

The Philosophy of Travel is the first in-deep discovery of the Mediterranean, Egypt and India narrated in Hungarian. Zsigmond Justh confirms the classical wisdom of travelers that it does not matter if the journey is made on ship, train, carriage, mule, camel or elephant, it will always serve mainly to explore the inner landscapes of the man on journey.

Out of his short novels, columns and short stories only those made their way into the Hungarian common literary knowledge that Justh himself prepared for press, and selected into collection in the last decades of the 19^th century. The present volume is a selection of Justh’s so far unpublished travelogues edited and prepared for publication by Franciska Dede historian of literature who defended her PhD thesis on the oeuvre of Zsigmond Justh in 2006.

The book invites us to the scarcely known world of a forgotten turn-of-the-century writer.