SÁNDOR MÁRAI’S RELATIONS WITH RUSSIAN LITERATURE

Abstract

In the intertextual landscape of the 20th century Hungarian literature a great deal of attention has been devoted to mapping the influence of Italian, German, Spanish and French culture and literature on Márai’s works. However, the impact of Russian literature on the Hungarian author’s oeuvre seems to have escaped the attention of literary scholarship. The present study sets out to throw light on the Russian authors Márai thought highly of, and whose ideas, views or individual works were mentioned or dealt with in his essays, diary entries or other writings. Additionally, an attempt has been made to pinpoint what these intellectual and literary encounters reveal about Márai’s literary taste, world view and last but not least, what referential or intertextual connections are shared by Márai and these Russian authors.