Miklós K. Papp and a Network of Intellectuals

Development and Practices of the Cultural Elite in Late Nineteenth-Century Transylvania

Abstract

The growing dominance of the public space provided by the press in the nineteenth century did not supplant those techniques of exchange which were used by scholars and writers before the institutionalisation and the officialization. The dynamics of a respublica litteraria, even if it was transformed, still preserved the principles of mutual help, honesty and cordiality, and was operating in the background, although there are no obvious traces of this in the press. The letters in the estate of Miklós K. Papp, the founder and editor of a newspaper from Kolozsvár uncover a significant network of contacts, and also illustrate the mechanics based on the principles of “favour for favour, book for book, friendship for friendship”. Relying on this, making a conscious use of network types, he gained the role of a centre. His network crossed regions and social groups, he was in contact with the older aristocracy, the honoratior intelligentsia, and theatre people alike, and often converted these connections into professional capital. The letters not only represent a journalistic career, but also provide a model for the late-nineteenth century literary and theatrical life of Transylvania.