Hungarian contexts of the portrayals of the gentry in Ján Kalinčiak’s work

Abstract

The article tackles the portrayals of the gentry in the writing of Ján Kalinčiak (1822 – 1871) in the Hungarian cultural context. Literature written in Hungary had multiple ties with the gentry: the literary works frequently tackled the topic and many authors – and their readers – belonged to this social class. The article identifies the humorous Hungarian encyclopaedia Hungaria in parabolis (1804) authored by the Hungarian scholar Antal Szirmay (1747 – 1812) as the reference frame for the period portrayals of the gentry. The encyclopaedia synthesised auto-stereotypes of the Hungarian gentry. A comparison of Kalinčiak’s characteristics of Hungarian lower nobility with the one developed by Szirmay shows that the former’s portrayal of this social class as outlined through such issues as the image of the homeland, history, clothing, and customs was in coherence with the general image of the gentry in Hungary at that time. Kalinčiak also tackled the typical attributes of gentry’s speech (anecdotal expressions, humorous undertone, discussing legal disputes, the use of idioms). Kalinčiak’s novel Reštavrácia ([County elections], 1860) deals with the topic of county elections.

Keywords

• ján kalinčiak
• antal szirmay
• hungarian gentry
• gentry in literature