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Mór Jókai

Jókai in 1854; lithograph by Miklós Barabás

Móricz Jókay of Ásva [ˈmoːr ˈjoːkɒi] (18 February 1825 – 5 May 1904), known as Mór Jókai, was a Hungarian novelist, dramatist and revolutionary. Outside of Hungary, he was also known as Maurice Jókai or Maurus Jokai or Mauritius Jókai.[1] He was a leader of the outbreak of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 in Pest. His romantic novels became widely popular among the elite of Victorian England, where he was often compared to Charles Dickens by the press.[2][3] One of his most famous admirers was Queen Victoria herself.[4]

Early life

He was born in Komárom in the Kingdom of Hungary to József Jókai of Ásva (1781–1837), a member of the Ásva branch of the ancient Jókay noble family; his mother was noblewoman Mária Pulay (1790–1856).[citation needed] As a boy, he was timid and his health delicate, so he was educated at home until the age of ten, when he was sent to Pozsony (today Bratislava, Slovakia).[citation needed] He then attended the Calvinist college of Pápa (Pápai Református Kollégium [hu]), where he first met Sándor Petőfi and Sándor Kozma.[citation needed]

When Jókai was twelve, his father died. His family wanted him to become a lawyer like his father had been, and he completed his education in Kecskemét and Pest to that end. He won his first case as an independent lawyer.[citation needed]

Career

Jókai was bored by his work as a lawyer, and he was encouraged in his art by the praise the Hungarian Academy of Sciences gave his first play (Hungarian: Zsidó fiú, lit. 'Jewish Boy').[citation needed] In 1845, he moved to Pest where Petőfi introduced him to literary circles. Within the year his first noted novel (Hungarian: Hétköznapok, lit. 'Working Days') was published as a serial by Pesti Divatlap [hu], followed by a hardcover edition in 1846. It was received with widespread critical acclaim.[citation needed] The following year, Jókai was appointed the editor of Életképek [hu], the then-leading Hungarian literary magazine, and gathered a circle of young writers around himself.[citation needed]

At the outbreak of the revolution of 1848, Jókai was enthusiastic about its nationalist cause. Before the revolution, he had been a moderate liberal who opposed excesses, but the nationalist victories of April and May 1849 persuaded him support Lajos Kossuth's deposition of the then-reigning House of Habsburg.[citation needed] When the revolutionary war ended in defeat, he was present at the surrender at Világos (today Şiria, Romania) in August 1849. He intended to commit suicide to avoid imprisonment, but his wife, Róza Laborfalvi helped him escape on foot through Russian lines to Pest.[citation needed]

For the next fourteen years Jókai was politically suspicious to the regime. He devoted himself to the rehabilitation of the Hungarian language,[clarification needed] writing thirty novels and volumes of tales, essays, and literary criticism. His renowned works Erdély aranykora ('The Golden Age of Transylvania'), its sequel Török világ Magyarországon ('The Turks in Hungary'), Egy magyar nábob ('A Hungarian Nabob'), its sequel Kárpáthy Zoltán, Janicsárok végnapjai ('The Last Days of the Janissaries'), and Szomorú napok ('Sad Days') were written during this time.

After the re-establishment of the Hungarian constitution by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Jókai took an active part in politics. He was a long-time supporter of Kálmán Tisza's administration, sitting for over twenty years in parliament and founding the government paper A Hon [hu] in 1863.[citation needed] In 1897, King Francis Joseph appointed him a member of the Upper House. In 1899, he caused a country-wide scandal by marrying Bella Nagy, a twenty-year-old actress.[citation needed]

Jókai died in Budapest on 5 May 1904. He was buried with his first wife (who had died in 1886) in the Fiume Road Graveyard.[citation needed]

Writings

Jókai in his study;
photograph by Mór Erdélyi [hu]

Jókai was an extremely prolific writer, especially after 1870.[citation needed] He devoted most of his time to literature. Among the finest of his later works are Az arany ember ('A Man of Gold', translated into Englishund er the title The Man with the Golden Touch), the most popular A kőszívű ember fiai (The Heartless Man's Sons), the heroic chronicle of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, and A tengerszemű hölgy (Eyes like the Sea), the latter of which won the Hungarian Academy's prize in 1890.[clarification needed]

His Jövő század regénye (Novel of the Next Century, 1872) is an important early work of science fiction, though the term did not yet exist at the time.[5] In spite of its romantic elements, this monumental two-volume novel includes some acute observations and foresights, such as the prediction of a revolution in Russia and the establishment of a totalitarian state there, or the arrival of aviation. Because it could be read as a satirical allegory on Leninism and Stalinism, the book was tacitly banned in Hungary in the decades of Socialism (only a 'Critical Edition' was published in 1981.)[6]

His writings became a major influence in the works of Gyula Krudy.

Collected editions

Collections of his works:

Works

Statue of Mór Jókai by Alajos Stróbl in Jókai Square, Budapest

Translated into English

Collections of short stories

Novels

Other English Editions

Not translated into English

Selected filmography

Honors

Three stamps were issued by Hungary in his honor, all on 1 February 1925.[7]

References

Citations

  1. ^ "Mauritius Jókai: De duabus salicibus enyediensibus".
  2. ^ Charles Hebbert; Norm Longley; Dan Richardson (2002). Rough Guide. Hungary. Rough Guides. p. 212. ISBN 9781858289175.
  3. ^ University of London. School of Slavonic and East European Studies (1929). The Slavonic and East European Review, Voluma 8. Jonathan Cape. p. 359.
  4. ^ Lóránt Czigány (1984). The Oxford history of Hungarian literature from the earliest times to the present. Clarendon Press. p. 222. ISBN 9780198157816.
  5. ^ The Greatest Literature of All Time – Science Fiction at www.editoreric.com
  6. ^ "A jövő század regénye · Jókai Mór · Könyv". 23 March 2019.
  7. ^ "Hungary : Stamps [Year: 1925] [1/2]".

Sources

External links

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