Kálmán Mikszáth [antikvár]

Preface A "metaphor for the act of reading" (Paul de Man), criticism is at best an attempt to render explicit what is imphcit in the text. This is never an easy enterprise, but since Hungarian is not one of the frequently studied literatures in the Enghsh-speaking world, the task of writing a critical-analytical book on Mikszáth posed some special problems. The most conspicuous of these was that under no circumstances could I permit myself the luxury of assuming familiarity with Mikszáth's works on the part of the readers for whom this study is intended. This meant that I had to try to strike a reasonable balance between necessary plot summaries and the equally necessary critical commentary. While writing this book I did, in fact, m^e a conscious effort to place myself in the position of a reader who knows no Hungarian but who would nevertheless like to know something about Hungarian literature, particularly about Mikszáth. At the same time, I also tried to keep the level of discussion at a relatively high level of literacy to make the reading of this book worth the while of the advanced Mikszáth scholar as well. In this way I hope I have been able to achieve a compromise between introducing Mikszáth to those of my readers who are seeking introduction and providing some new insights for those readers who are familiar with many or most of the works discussed in the pages which follow. In an attempt to keep my focus on Mikszáth's works and on the special problems that his works have generated, I kept the historical and biographical background to a minimum. The chapter on his life and times is merely intended to show the world in which Mikszáth lived and worked, and to throw some light on the personality of the author which is indirectly but indubitably present in the narrators who tell the stories of his novels. Otherwise the emphasis in this book is on Mikszáth's novels and on the controversial question of his "Realism." I hope that the unobtrusive application of certain Structuralistic tenets to an interpretation of Mikszáth's stories and novels will prove useful and self-justifying in the long run. Mikszáth's works are particularly inviting to anyone interested in the thematics of fiction and in the always fascinating question of the relationship