The grand narrative of national narrative in Kálmán Mikszáth

Abstract

My paper focuses on Kálmán Mikszáth’s journalistic texts, together with his prefaces to the series Magyar Regényírók Képes Kiadása (Illustrated Editions of Hungarian Novelists, published by the Franklin-társulat) and Egyetemes Regénytár Almanachja (Almanach of the Universal Novel Library, published by Singer and Wolfner), exploring how Hungarian national literature is represented in them. How are the worthies of Hungarian national literature (Sándor Petőfi, János Arany and Mór Jókai) depicted, and what considerations are expressed in these writings in connection with the development of national literature. According to my hypothesis, the protagonist of Mikszáth’s mosaic-like grand narrative about Hungarian literature is Mór Jókai, who represents the quintessence of the development of Hungarian literature. The path culminating in Jókai, however, provides an opportunity for Mikszáth to interpret János Arany and Sándor Petőfi from Jókai’s direction, and to canonise the tradition of Hungarian popular novels.