Reality and fiction, or what do Mátyás Rákosi and Árpád II (of Habsburg) have in common? In 1952, both were rulers of Hungary. While in historical reality it was Mátyás Rákosi, in Jókai’s fictitious future it was King Árpád who fulfilled this role. At this point, the commonalities and parallels cease. Rákosi implemented one of the darkest dictatorships in Hungarian history, one that Jókai could not even imagine in the form of the state of Nihil. For today’s reader, Rákosi’s Hungary nevertheless appears as a reference when reading the Novel of the Next Century. Jókai’s vision of a fundamentally liberal Hungary with great power status in the 1950s and his portrayal of Árpád II are the perfect counterpoint to the reality that was actually experienced. As a result, despite the satirical tone, today’s reader perceives Jókai’s Hungary as an idealized vision of the future, creating a strange interaction between life and literature.
“Árpád of Habsburg is the gloriously reigning king of Hungary at this time, as well as the emperor, king, grand duke, margrave et cetera of the countries allied with Hungary.”
“What would I save from a possible flood?
“…But if I have understood the questions correctly, i.e. which are the books whose loss as a writer I would suffer the most and could not replace, then I answered this question with the titles I noted down. Because for example, if you ask me which of the three Bibles in my library is the most interesting (bibliographically), I would answer: the Doré one. If you ask me which one ‘I’ love most, I would answer: the simple Gáspár Károlyi one, which I have carried with me since I was a child. But if you ask which is the most valuable for the ‘writer’? I would answer that it is the De Sacy edition, because it contains all the apocryphal books, with steel engravings by great artists from two centuries ago.”
In the Novel of the Next Century, Kin-Tseu is an isolated and supposedly uninhabited region located on the border of China, amongst the sky-piercing peaks of the Himalayas. Thousands of scientists tried to study and explore it, but to no avail, until one day a strange structure was found bearing an unknown script. Dávid Tatrangi was the only one able to decipher it, and his scientific curiosity led him to explore the unknown world. The text was, in fact, written in Hungarian, and the protagonist probably discovered the Hungarian ancestral homeland, which dates back to the times before Magna Hungaria. The exhibit evokes this era of scientific discoveries and achievements. In addition to numerous natural science works, literature on Hungarian prehistory is also on display, which is still one of our most exciting scientific issues. It is difficult to decipher the world before the written history of a nation, which naturally produces perspectives that are mythical, magical, and transcendental. This is embodied by Dávid Tatrangi in Jókai’s novel. Through his scientific curiosity, he finds a treasure in Kin-Tseu, the mythical ancestral homeland of the Magyars
“But as far as our historical memories extend, we find no trace of these peoples speaking a language different from the Hungarians or having a different physical constitution. What difference existed in the language is present in the Cuman, Palócz, Transylvanian, Göcsej and Csángó dialects, and this itself proves that the peoples have the same origin, descended from the same tribe. Where was the ancestral homeland of this tribe, where did the peoples, like so many separate but brotherly branches, emerge from it? Its investigation has so far proved a futile endeavour and may remain so for all time…”
“A whole paper is one kreutzer?
Cursed competition. No paper can do the same. No matter how fast they rush, they will beat them all in the time it takes to type, arrange, and adjust the other papers, and there is no money smaller than a kreutzer in Europe. It is foreseeable that Astrapé will eventually kill all old-world journalism.
That is why its name is Astrapé (Greek for lightning), which is swift and deadly.”
“Look, look, what the poor fluff has become! / Look, we have fallen to the ground, your lips are far away! / And the torrential rain of the storms has come, / the mud has come, the trampling feet have come – oh look! / we cannot even climb like ants! Oh! / Hungary! Where is Árpád II, / the Novel of the Next Century and our dreams?”
A heat engine converts the energy generated by the thermodynamic processes taking place inside it into mechanical work. In the chapter “The Madmen of Flying Machines” of the Novel of the Next Century, Jókai, when describing the youngest “madman’s” idea of flight, drew inspiration from an article published in Vasárnapi Ujság, in which the author dreamed of airships powered by steam engines. The flying machine of the youngest “madman” was based on a combination of a hot air balloon and a children’s toy, originating from the idea of a propeller that could be wound up with a string.
Mihály Katona: A’ föld’ mathematica leírása a’ világ alkotmányával együtt… [The mathematical description of the Earth together with the constitution of the world…], 1814, Petőfi Literary Museum
Johann Müller: Lehrbuch der Physik und Meterologie – 3. Bd.: Kosmischen Physik, 1872, Petőfi Literary Museum
Hermann Wagner: Malerische Botanik, 1872, Petőfi Literary Museum
F. C. Sclosser: Weltgeschichte für das deutsche Volk, 1. Bd.: (Geschichte der alten Welt), 1844, Petőfi Literary Museum
Edward Bellamy: Looking Backward 2000–1887, 1892, Petőfi Literary Museum
Mór Jókai: Véres könyv – csataképek a keleti háboruból [Bloody Book – Battle Scenes from the Eastern War], 1871, Petőfi Literary Museum
Lorenz Oken: Allgemeine Naturgeschichte für alle Stände von Oken, 1. Bd.: Mineralogie und Geognosie, 1839
Johann Müller: Atlas zum Lehrbuch der kosmischen Physik, 1872, Petőfi Literary Museum
Julius Zöllner: Einführung in die Geschichte der Erfindungen – Bildungsgang und Bildungsmittel der Menschheit, 1872, Petőfi Literary Museum
P. M. Laurent: Histoire de l’Empereur Napoléon, 1852, Petőfi Literary Museum
Alexander von Humboldt: Kosmos – Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreibung: 2–4. Bd., 1847–1858, Petőfi Literary Museum
Julius Zöllner: Die Kräfte der Natur und ihre Benutzung – eine physikalische Technologie, 1872, Petőfi Literary Museum
Arnold Ipolyi: Magyar mytholigia [Hungarian Mythology], 1854, Petőfi Literary Museum
Mihály Horváth: Magyarország történelme 1–8. [History of Hungary], 1871–1873, Petőfi Literary Museum
Marci chronica de gestis Hungarorum ab origine gentis ad annum M. CCC. XXX. Producta, 1867, Petőfi Literary Museum
Arnold Ipolyi: Mythology of Hungary, manuscript proof copy, 1854, National Széchényi Library Manuscript Archive
Mihály Horváth: Magyarország történetének s politikai állapotának vázlata [Outline of the History and Political Situation of Hungary], Chapter one 894–1526, 1840–1850, National Széchényi Library Manuscript Archive
Mór Jókai: A magyar nemzet története regényes rajzokban 1860. [The History of the Hungarian Nation in Novel Drawings], 1860, National Széchényi Library Core Collection
László Gyémánt: Alternatíva [Alternative], around 1990, Museum of Fine Arts – Hungarian National Gallery