Social Criticism in Hungarian Literature since 1956

Abstract

Social criticism has been a staple ingredient of Hungarian literature for over a century and a half. Thus developments since 1956 are rooted in an already well-established tradition. Literature in Hungary is committed to a national cause—the indefinite article is used deliberately—and writers are all too conscious of this. They have acquired a status unknown in Britain. They are viewed as leaders, teachers and prophets, and what they write is judged by its relevance to the national cause of the time. Moreover they are expected to pronounce on matters affecting the nation and if they do not do so their silence is regarded as significant. So writers have a political importance. Indeed, literature has provided the equivalent of the opposition in a democratically elected parliament, and the idea of literature as opposition to the régime in power dies hard. Political upheavals have been preceded by literary ferment, and this is as true of 1956 as it was of 1848.