Notwithstanding the exertions of Paul Bugát to arouse an interest in the natural sciences by the establishment in 1841 of the “Hungarian Royal Natural Science Association,” no general activity was manifested in this department of knowledge, so far as the native literature was concerned, until 1860, when the academy organized a special committee for the advancement of mathematical and natural science.[83] The principal contributors to the “Transactions” of this section of the academy were—for anatomy and physiology, Coloman Balogh, Eugene Jendrassik, Joseph Lenhossék and Lewis Thanhoffer; for zoology, John Frivaldszky, John Kriesch and Theodore Margó; for botany, Frederick Hazslinszky, Lewis Jurányi and Julius Klein; for mineralogy and geology, Joseph Szabó, Max Hantken, Joseph Krenner, Anthony Koch and Charles Hoffman; for physics, Baron Lorando Eötvös, Coloman Szily and Joseph Sztoczek; for chemistry, Charles Than and Vincent Wartha; for meteorology, Guido Schenzl. As good text-books, for which the so-called “Ladies’ Prize” was awarded by the academy, we may mention the Természettan (Physics) and Természettani földrajz (Physical Geography) of Julius Greguss.
Almost simultaneously with the formation of the above-mentioned committee of the academy, the “Natural Science Association” showed signs of renewed animation, and soon advanced with rapid strides in the same direction, but with a more popular aim than the academy. Between 1868 and 1878 the number of its members increased from some 600 to about 5000. After 1872, in addition to its regular organs, it issued Hungarian translations of several popular scientific English works, as, for instance, Darwin’s Origin of Species; Huxley’s Lessons in Physiology; Lubbock’s Prehistoric Times; Proctor’s Other Worlds than Ours; Tyndall’s Heat as a Mode of Motion, &c. Versions were also made of Cotta’s Geologie der Gegenwart and Helmholtz’s Populäre Vorlesungen. As important original monographs we note—Az árapály a Fiumei öbölben (Ebb and Flow in the Gulf of Fiume), by Emil Stahlberger (1874); Magyarország pókfaunája (The Arachnida of Hungary), by Otto Hermann (1876-1878); Magyarország vaskövei és vasterményei (The Iron Ores and Iron Products of Hungary), by Anthony Kerpely (1877); Magyarország nevezetesebb dohányfajainak chemiai ... megvizsgálása (Chemical Examination of the most famous Tobaccos of Hungary), by Dr Thomas Kosutány (1877).
(E. D. Bu.)
The number of Magyar writers has since 1880 increased to an extent hardly expected by the reading public in Hungary itself. In 1830 there were only 10 Magyar periodical publications; in 1880 we find 368; in 1885 their Literature since 1880. number rose to 494; in 1890 to 636; and at the beginning of 1895 no fewer than 806 periodical publications, written in the Hungarian language, appeared in Hungary. Since that time (1895) the number of periodical as well as of non-periodical literary works has been constantly rising, although, as in all countries with a literature of rather recent origin, the periodical publications are, in proportion to the whole of the output, far more numerous than the non-periodical.[84] This remarkable increase in the quantity of literary work was, on the whole, accompanied by a fair advance in literary quality.
In lyrical poetry, among the poets who first came to the fore in the ’sixties several were active after 1880, such as Joseph Komócsy (d. 1894), whose Szerelem Könyve (“Book of Love”) has become a popular classic; Victor Dalmady, who published in the ’nineties his Hazafias Költemények (Patriotic Poems); and Ladislas Arany, son of the great John. Among the prominent lyrists whose works, although partly published before 1880, belong largely to the later period, the following deserve special mention: The poetry of Emil Ábrányi (born 1850) is filled with the ideas and ideals of Victor Hugo. Ábrányi excels also as a translator, more particularly of Byron. Julius Reviczky (1855-1899) also inclined to the Occidental rather than to the specifically Magyar type of poets; his lyrics are highly finished, aristocratic and pessimistic (Pán halála, “The Death of Pan”). Count Géza Zichy (b. 1849) published his lyrical poems in 1892. Joseph Kiss (b. 1843) is especially felicitous in ballads taken from village and Jewish life, and in love-songs; Alexander Endrödi (b. 1850), one of the most gifted modern lyrical poets of Hungary, has the charm of tenderness and delicacy together with that of a peculiar and original style, his Kurucz nóták being so far his most successful attempt at romantic lyrics. Louis Bartók (b. 1851) is a remarkable satirist and epigrammatist (Kárpáti emlékek). Ödön Jakab (b. 1850) leans towards the poetic manner of Tompa, with perhaps a greater power of expression than the author of the Virágregék (“Flower-fables”); Jakab wrote Hangok az ifjuságból (“Sounds of Youth”), Nyár (“Summer”), both collections of lyrical poems. Louis Pósa (b. 1850) has made a sphere of his own in his charming poems for and about children, Édes anyám (“My dear Mother”). In Andor Kozma (b. 1860), author of A tegnap és a ma (“Yesterday and To-day,” 1889), Versek (Poems, 1893), &c., there is undoubted power of genuine satire and deep humour. Michael Szabolcska (b. 1864), author of Hangulatok (“Moods,” 1894), showed great promise; Julius Vargha (b. 1853) cultivates the népies or folk-poetry as represented by Hungary’s two greatest poets, Petőfi and Arany; Vargha has also published excellent translations of Schiller and Goethe. Perhaps scarcely less remarkable are the modern Magyar lyrists, such as, of the older set, John Bulla (b. 1843), J. D. Temérdek, Gustavus Csengey (b. 1842), Paul Koroda (b. 1854), E. Julius Kovács (b. 1839, Poems, 1892), Ladislas Inczédi, Julius Nógrádi Pap, Julius Szávay (b. 1860), John Dengi (b. 1853); among the juniors, Anton Radó (also an excellent translator), Louis Palágyi (Magányos úton, “On Lonely Way,” &c.), Géza Gárdonyi (b. 1863, Aprilis, 1894), Zoltán Pap, Eugen Heltai (Ignotus), Julius Rudnyánszky (b. 1860, Szerelem, “Love”; Nyár, “Summer”), Árpád Zemplényi, Julius Szentessy, Emil Makai (b. 1870), Cornelius Gáspár, Julius Varsányi (b. 1863, Mulandóság, “The Unstableness of Things”), Alexander Luby (Vergödés, “Striving”), Eugen V. Szászvárosi, Endre Szabó (b. 1849), political satirist. In the most recent lyrics of Hungary there is a growing tendency to socialistic poetry, to the “poetry of misery” (A nyomor költészete). In epic poetry Josef Kiss’s Jehova is the most popular work. Amongst rhymed novels—novels in verse form—the best is the Délibábok hőse (“The Hero of Mirages”), in which Ladislas Arany tells, in brilliantly humorous and captivating fashion, the story of a young Magyar nobleman who, at first full of great ideals and aspirations, finally ends as a commonplace country squire.
Among Hungarian novels we may distinguish four dominant genres or tendencies. The first is represented almost exclusively by Maurus Jókai (q.v.). To the school so perfectly represented by Jókai belong Árpád Kupa (A napszámosok, “The Labourers”; Képselt királyok, “Imaginary Kings”); Robert Tábori (Nagy játék, “Great Game”; A negyvenéves férfiu, “The Man at Forty”); and Julius Werner (Kendi Imre házassága, “The Wedding of Emericus Kendi”; Olga; Megvirrad még valaha, “Dawn will come in the End”). The second class of Hungarian modern novelists is led by the well-known Koloman Mikszáth, a poet endowed with originality, a charming naïveté, and a freshness of observation from life. A close observer of the multifarious low life of Hungary, Mikszáth has, in his short stories, given a delightful yet instructive picture of all the minor varied phases of the peasant life of the Slavs, the Palócok, the Saxons, the town artisan. Amongst his numerous works may be mentioned A jó palóczok (“The Good Palóczok,” Slav peasants); Egy választás Magyarországon (“An Election in Hungary”); Pipacsok a búzában (“Wild Poppies in the Wheatfield”); A tekintetes vármegye (“The Worshipful County”); Ne okoskodj Pista (“Don’t reason, Pista”); Szent Peter esernyője (“St Peter’s Umbrella,” translated from the original into English by Miss B. W. Worswick), &c. Mikszáth has had considerable influence upon other writers. Such are Victor Rákosi (Sipulus tárcái, “The Essays of Sipulus”; Rejtett fészkek, “Hidden Nests”); Stephen Móra (Atyánkfiai, “Our Compatriots”); Alexius Benedek, the author of numerous distinctly sympathetic and truly Magyar tales, fables and novels, one of the most gifted and deserving literary workers of modern Hungary (Huszár Anna, “Anna Huszar”; Egy szalmaözvegy levelei, “Letters of a grass widow”; A sziv könyve, “The Book of the Heart”; Katalin, “Catherine”; Csendes órák, “Quiet Hours”; Testamentum és hat levél, “Last Will and Six Letters,” translated into German by Dr W. Schönwald, &c.); Géza Gárdonyi (several novels containing the adventures, observations, &c., of Mr Gabriel Gőre; A kékszemü Davidkáné, “Blue-eyed Mrs Dávidka”; A Kátsa, scenes from gipsy life); Charles Murai (Vig történetek, “Jolly Stories”; Bandi, a collection of short tales); Stephen Bársony (Csend, “Silence”; A Kaméleon-leány, “The Chamaeleon Girl, and other Stories”; Erdőn-mezőn, “In Wood and Field”). The third class of Magyar novelists comprises those cosmopolitan writers who take their method of work, their inspiration and even many of their subjects from foreign authors, chiefly French, German, Russian and also Norwegian. A people with an intense national sentiment, such as the Hungarians, do not as a rule incline towards permanent admiration of foreign-born or imported literary styles; and accordingly the work of this class of novelists has frequently met with very severe criticism on the part of various Magyar critics. Yet it can scarcely be denied that several of the “foreign” novelists have contributed a wholesome, if not quite Magyar, element of form or thought to literary narrative style in Hungary. Probably the foremost among them is Sigismund Justh, who died prematurely in the midst of his painful attempt at reconciling French “realistic” modes of thought with what he conceived to be Magyar simplicity (A puszta könyve, “The Book of the Puszta,” prairie of Hungary; A Pénz legendája, “The Legend of Money”; Gányo Julcsa, “Juliet Gányó”; Fuimus). Other novelists belonging to this school are: Desiderius Malonyai (Az utolsó, “The Last”; Judith könyve, “The Book of Judith”; Tanulmányfejek, “Typical Heads”); Julius Pekár (Dodo főhadnagy problémái, “Lieutenant Dodo’s Problems”; Az aranykesztyűs kisasszony, “The Maid with the Golden Gloves”; A szoborszép asszony, “The Lady as Beautiful as a Statue”; Az esztendo legendája, “The Legend of the Year”); Thomas Kobor (Aszfalt, “Asphalt”; O akarta, “He Wanted It”; A csillagok felé, “Towards the Stars”); Stephen Szomaházy (Huszonnégy óra, “Twenty-four Hours”; A Clairette Keringő, “The Clairette Valse”; Páratlan szerdák, “Incomparable Wednesdays”; Nyári felhők, “Clouds of Summer”); Zoltán Thury (Ullrich főhadnagy és egyéb történetek, “Lieutenant Ullrich and other Tales”; Urak és parasztok, “Gentlemen and Peasants”); also Desiderius Szomory, Ödon Gerő, Árpád Abonyi, Koloman Szántó, Edward Sas, Julius Vértesi, Tibor Dénes, Ákos Pintér, the Misses Janka and Stéphanie Wohl, Mrs Sigismund Gyarmathy and others. In the fourth class may be grouped such of the latest Hungarian novelists as have tried, and on the whole succeeded, in clothing their ideas and characters in a style peculiar to themselves. Besides Stephen Petelei (Jetti, a name—“Henrietta”—Felhők, “Clouds”) and Zoltán Ambrus (Pókháló Kisasszony, “Miss Cobweb”; Gyanu, “Suspicion”) must be mentioned especially Francis Herczeg, who has published a number of very interesting studies of Hungarian social life (Simon Zsuzsa, “Susanna Simon”; Fenn és lenn, “Above and Below”; Egy leány története, “The History of a Girl”; Idegenek között, “Amongst Strangers”); Alexander Bródy, who brings a delicate yet resolute analysis to unfold the mysterious and fascinating inner life of persons suffering from overwrought nerves or overstrung mind (A kétlelkü asszony, “The Double-Souled Lady”; Don Quixote kisasszony, “Miss Don Quixote”; Faust orvos, “Faust the Physician”; Tündér Ilona, Rejtelmek, “Mysteries”; Az ezüst kecske, “The Silver Goat”); and Edward Kabos, whose sombre and powerful genius has already produced works, not popular by any means, but full of great promise. In him we may trace the influence of Nietzsche’s philosophy (Koldusok, “Beggars”; Vándorok, “Wanderers”). To this list we must add the short but incomparable feuilletons (tárczalevelek) of Dr Adolf Ágai (writing under the nom de plume of Porzó), whose influence on the formation of modern Hungarian literary prose is hardly less important than the unique esprit and charm of his writings.
Dramatic literature, liberally supported by the king and the government, and aided by magnificent theatres in the capital and also in the provinces (the finest provincial theatre is in Kolozsvár, in Transylvania), has developed remarkably. The Hungarians have the genuine dramatic gift in abundance; they have, moreover, actors and actresses of the first rank. In the modern drama three great and clearly differentiated groups may be distinguished. First the neo-romantic group, whose chief representatives are Eugen Rákosi, Louis Dóczi (b. 1845), who, in addition to Csók (“The Kiss”), has written Utolsó szerelem (“Last Love”), Széchy Mária (“Maria Széchy”), Vegyes Párok (“Mixed Couples”). In these and other dramatic writings, more remarkable perhaps for poetic than for stage effects, Dóczi still maintains his brilliancy of diction and the delicacy of his poetic touch. To the same school belong Louis Bartók, Anton Váradi and Alexander Somló. The next group of Hungarian dramatists is dominated by the master spirit of Gregor Csiky (q.v.). Among Csiky’s most promising disciples is Francis Herczeg (already mentioned as a novelist), author of the successful society comedy, A Gyurkovics leányok (“The Misses Gyurkovics”), Három testőr (“Three Guardsmen”), Honty háza (“The House of Honty”). Árpád Berczik’s Nézd meg az anyját (“Look at her Mother”), A protekczió (“Patronizing”), also followed on the lines of Csiky. The third group of dramatic writers take their subjects, surroundings and diction from the folk-life of the villages (népszínmü, “folk-drama”). The greatest of these dramatists has so far been Edward Tóth (Toloncz, “The Ousted Pauper”). Amongst his numerous followers, who have, however, sometimes vulgarized their figures and plots, may be mentioned Tihamér Almási (Milimári, A Miniszterelnök bálja, “The Ball of the Premier”) and Alexander Somló.
In philosophy there has been a remarkable increase of activity, partly assimilative or eclectic and partly original. Peter Bihari and Maurice Kármán have in various writings spread the ideas of Herbart. After the school of Comte, yet to a large extent original, is the Az ember és világa (“Man and his World”) of Charles Böhm, who in 1881 started a philosophical review (Magyar Filozofiaí Szemle), subsequently edited by Joseph Bokor, a vigorous thinker. Realism, more particularly of the Wundt type, is represented by Emericus Pauer, Az ethikai determinismus (“Ethical Determinism”), and Eugen Posch (Az időről, “On Time”). On a Thomistic basis John Kiss edits a philosophical review (Bölcseleti Folyóirat); on similar lines have been working Ákos Mihályfi, Répássy, Augustin Lubrich and others. Neo-Hegelianism is cultivated by Eugen Schmitt, efficiently assisted by Joseph Alexander Simon (Az egységes és reális természet filozofia alapvonalai, “Outlines of a Uniform and Realistic Philosophy of Nature”). F. Medveczky (formerly a German author under the name of Fr. von Bärenbach) espouses Neo-Kantism (Társadalmi elméletek és eszmények, 1887, “Social Theories and Ideals”). The Hungarian scholar Samuel Brassai published, in 1896, Az igazi pozitiv filozofia (“The True Positive Philosophy”). Amongst the ablest and most zealous students of the history of philosophy are Bernhard Alexander, under whose editorship, aided by Joseph Bánoczi, a series of the works of the world’s great thinkers has appeared; Andrew Domanovszky, author of an elaborate History of Philosophy; Julius Gyomlai, translator of Plato; Eugen Péterfy, likewise translator of philosophical works, &c.
Juristic literature has been stimulated by the activity in positive legislation. On 1st January 1900 a new criminal code, thoroughly modern in spirit, was put in force; and in 1901 a Civil Code Bill, to replace the old Hungarian customary system, was introduced. Among the newer writers on common and commercial law may be mentioned Wenczal, Zlinsky, Zögöd, Gustave Schwarz, Alexander Plósz, Francis Nagy and Neumann; on constitutional law, Korbuly, Boncz, Stephen Kiss, Ernest Nagy, Kmety, Arthur Balogh, Ferdinandy, Béla Grünwald, Julius Andrássy and Emeric Hajnik; on administration, George Fésüs, Kmety and Csiky; on finance, Mariska, Exner and László. Among the later writers on statistics, moreover, have been Konek, Keleti, Láng, Földes, Jekelfalussy, Vorgha, Körösy, Ráth and Vízaknai.
On subjects of politics, amongst the more important works are the various monographs of Gustavus Beksics on the Dualism of Austria-Hungary, on the “New Foundations of Magyar Politics” (A magyar politika uj alapjai, 1899), on the Rumanian question, &c.; the writings of Emericus Bálint, Ákos Beöthy, Victor Concha (systematic politics), L. Ecsery, Géza Ferdinandy (historical and systematic politics), Árpád Zigány, Béla Földes (political economy), Julius Mandello (political economy), Alexander Matlekovics (Hungary’s administrative service; Államháztartás, 3 vols.), J. Pólya (agrarian politics), M. Somogyi (sociology), and the late Augustus Pulszky.