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NATIONAL IDENTITY AS A LITERARY QUESTION:
THE SPECIFIC APPLICATION OF THE ANECDOTE IN
HUNGARIAN FIN-DE-SIECLE LITERATURE
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ESZTER TARJÁNYI
ABSTRACT
The most significant point on which researchers agree when the anecdote, that
most distinctive of literary forms, is placed under the microscope in order to
capture its multifaceted character is that it is no easy task, indeed it is almost
impossible, to give it a satisfactory definition. This may also be coloured by
the Hungarian usage because the anecdote occupies a particularly important
place in the Hungarian cultural heritage. In contrast to any other national
literature, the anecdote became a most significant and dominant literary
genre, which essentially characterised the Hungarian literary tradition at
the turn of the twentieth century. Its importance led to the concept of the
anecdotal novel.
The anecdotal novels of Mór Jókai and Kálmán Mikszáth, as the name of
the genre would suggest, are derived from the anecdote and result in what
is known in English literature as the composite novel. This kind of novel is
mostly comprised of anecdotal episodes which do not adhere to any strict
logical order and are associated with a light and amusing tone as well as
being coupled with a historical outlook.
Yet the anecdote has another important context in the Central-European
literary tradition. As a special genre associated with the gentry, itis characterised
by national issues and national consciousness. Thus the genre came to represent
national identity. Likewise, Polish culture can be compared with its similar
form, the gaweda. Just as in Hungary there was a connection between the
gentry and the anecdote, so Polish culture established a strong link between
the gaweda and the noble, so-called Sarmatian tradition. There is, however,
an important difference: while the novels by Joseph Conrad and Gombrowitz
can be traced back to the gaweda, Nyugat (West), the representative journal
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