THE POETICS OF THE SMALL TOWN 2

Abstract

The study comprises researches into two directions. First, it attempts to look into the chronotope of the 19^th century provincial small town and describe it primarily comparing it to the myth of the metropolis: its characteristic depiction of space and experience of time, the feeling it conveys, the image of man it presents. In doing so, the author reckons she has first of all found the “counter myth” of contemporary metropolis in the representations of the small town. Second, it examines the Hungarian variants of the so determined image of the small town in the first half of the 20^th century. In this part the author analyzes Kosztolányi’s novel The Lark.