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Mór Jókai | |
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Born | Komárom, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire (now Komárno, Slovakia) | 18 February 1825
Died | 5 May 1904 79) Budapest, Austria-Hungary | (aged
Resting place | Kerepesi Cemetery |
Occupation | author |
Language | Hungarian |
Literary movement | Neo-romanticism |
Notable works | The Man with the Golden Touch (Az aranyember) The Heartless Man's Sons (A kőszívű ember fiai) |
Spouse | Róza Laborfalvi (1848–1886) Bella Nagy (1899–1904) |
Móricz Jókay of Ásva [ˈmoːrˈjoːkɒi] (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]
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 ), 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 ]
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 , 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 , 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 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 ]
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.
Collections of his works:
Three stamps were issued by Hungary in his honor, all on 1 February 1925. [7]
Sándor Petőfi was a Hungarian poet and liberal revolutionary. He is considered Hungary's national poet, and was one of the key figures of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. He is the author of the Nemzeti dal, which is said to have inspired the revolution in the Kingdom of Hungary that grew into a war for independence from the Austrian Empire. It is most likely that he died in the Battle of Segesvár, one of the last battles of the war.
The Gypsy Baron is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II which premiered at the Theater an der Wien on 24 October 1885. Its German libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer is based on the unpublished 1883 story Saffi by Mór Jókai. Jokai later published a novel A cigánybáró in 1885 using an expanded version of this same story.
Ferenc Móra was a Hungarian novelist, journalist, and museologist.
Ferenc Farkas was a Hungarian composer.
Hungary has had a notable cinema industry since the beginning of the 20th century, including Hungarians who affected the world of motion pictures both within and beyond the country's borders. The former could be characterized by directors István Szabó, Béla Tarr, or Miklós Jancsó; the latter by William Fox and Adolph Zukor, the founders of Fox Studios and Paramount Pictures respectively, or Alexander Korda, who played a leading role in the early period of British cinema. Examples of successful Hungarian films include Merry-go-round, Mephisto, Werckmeister Harmonies and Kontroll.
The Man with the Golden Touch is an 1872 novel by Hungarian novelist Mór Jókai. As Jókai states in the afterword of the novel, it was based on a true story he had heard from his grand-aunt as a child.
Zoltán Latinovits was a Hungarian actor.
Big Read is the Hungarian version of the BBC Big Read.
Szaffi is a 1985 Hungarian-Canadian animated film directed by Attila Dargay. It is based on the 1885 book The Gypsy Baron by Mór Jókai, about the romance between a poor Hungarian aristocrat and a mysterious Romani-looking Turkish girl in the 18th century. Music from Johann Strauss II's operetta The Gypsy Baron, based on the same novel, is used for the film's soundtrack.
Robert Nisbet Bain (1854–1909) was a British historian and linguist who worked for the British Museum.
Zoltán Greguss was a Hungarian film actor.
Tibor Bitskey was a Hungarian television and film actor.
Tamás Major was a Hungarian stage and film actor. He also acted as the director of the Hungarian National Theatre from 1945 to 1962.
Hédi Temessy was a Hungarian actress. Active for over 50 years, she appeared on stage, in films, and on television. Her significant roles include playing Márta in Gergely Csiky's The Grandmother.
Jókai bean soup is a Hungarian bean soup.
Béla Ferenc József Grünwald de Bártfa was a Hungarian nationalist politician and historian who was active in Upper Hungary.
Zoltán Kárpáthy is a 1966 Hungarian drama film directed by based on the eponymous novel by Mór Jókai.
József Sas was a Hungarian actor, comedian and theatre manager. He was director of the Mikroszkóp Theatre from 1985 to 2009.
Miklós Hajdufy was a Hungarian screenwriter and director.
Ferenc Veress was a Hungarian photographer and inventor.