Hungarian Literature as World Literature

This paper considers two aspects of Hungarian literature as world literature. Focusing firstly on the embeddedness of Hungarian literature in the European and world literature networks, the article discusses questions of language, area, and nationality, focusing on Janus Pannonius as the main example. The importance of translation and adaptation of European trends of literariness is demonstrated via the example of Mihály Vörösmarty. The second part of the paper turns to that always changing portion of Hungarian literature that circulates beyond the original context. The various institutions that have tried to export the domestic canon have usually failed (e.g. Ferenc Herczeg), while the foreign success of some literary works, such as Sándor Márai’s Embers has left Hungarian academia puzzled. The paper looks at Krasznahorkai as an example of those writers who already write in Hungarian with an eye on international readership and book market, and whose critical acclaim at home and abroad seem to focus on different features.