THE CONTEXTUALIZATION OF ARTÚR MUNK’S NOVEL, THE HINTERLAND

Abstract

The contemporary reception – mainly by Aladár Schöpflin and Ernő Kázmér, and partly by the critical evaluation of Szenteleky – and also some re-readings following the 1981 second edition, especially Imre Bori’s afterword, placed the novel in the context of the history of development basing this largely on aspects valid to this day, and considered Artúr Munk’s oeuvre in a semantic context, including the possible interpretations of the novels A nagy káder [The Great Cadre] published in 1930, and A hinterland [The Hinterland] published in 1933. This is exactly why, both in the second half of the 20th century and in our time, those efforts which have attempted to put Munk’s mentioned works in the service of various stereotypes, ideologies and unscientific endeavours are regarded unfounded or gratuitous from both historical- poetic and narratological point of view. The study examines the historical aspects of the source and reception of Artúr Munk’s novel A hinterland: A mögöttes országrész háborúja [Hinterland: The War of the Backcountry], and points out the neuralgic points, inoperability and long-term inexpedience of these approaches, setting up at the same time possible interpretative models and contexts so as to create a Munk portrait in the right perspective.