János Arany’s years in Nagykőrös (1851‒1860) in the light of his correspondence V.

From longing for amusements to taking stock of land holdings (1854)

Abstract

The processing of the life and literary legacy of János Arany (1817–1882) can now be traced back more than two centuries. When examining the personality of the Hungarian with the largest vocabulary, we can rely not only on his works but also on
his extensive and very lively correspondence. Whith all this by exploring the communication channels of the period, we can discover not only the emotional side of Arany as expressed in his works, but also that of the ordinary father who loved his the family,
the ceaselessly working and teaching teacher, and the reformer who was trying to modernise his country. To examine all this, I have taken as a basis the letters written during Arany's years in Nagykőrös (1851–1860), which most accurately reflect the
poet's world during the period when his ballad period was unfolding. It is important to stress that, although critical editions of Arany's correspondence have been produced with a view to completeness, researchers have not yet attempted to compare their
documents so far. Critical editions of valuable cord documents have been published, and valuable notes are included alongside their taxative text, but these have not yet been compared and commented on. Examination of the correspondence gives us the opportunity to gain an authentic picture of everyday life in the 19th century, of Habsburg authoritarianism, of the values of Reformed education and the past of the market towns of the Lowland. The discussion of the gap of all these, points out how
Nagykőrös could become one of the centres of the Hungarian literature after the "bloody" events of 1848–1849.