The Strange Story of Rab Ráby

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THE STRANGE STORY OF RAB RÁBY
BY MAURUS JÓKAI
THIRD EDITION
LONDON JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.
In Rab Ráby, the famous Hungarian novelist gives us, in a manner quite his own, a picture of the old régime in Hungary in the times of Emperor Joseph II., 1780-1790. The novel, as to its plot and principal persons, is based on facts, and the then manners and institutions of Hungary are faithfully reflected in the various scenes from private, judicial, and political life as it developed under the erroneous policy of Joseph II.
Briefly speaking, Rab Ráby is the story of one of those frightful miscarriages of justice which at all times cropped up under the influence of political motives. In our own time we have seen the Dreyfus case, another instance of appalling injustice set in motion for political reasons. Rab Ráby is thus very likely to give the English reader a wrong idea of the backward and savage character of Hungarian civilisation towards the end of the eighteenth century, unless he carefully considers the peculiar circumstances of the case. I think I can do the novel no better service than setting it in its right historic frame, which Jókai, writing as he did for Hungarians, did not feel induced to dwell upon.