At the beginning of World War I, the Novel of the Next Century enjoyed unparalleled popularity, with many people believing that Jókai had predicted the war. After the war, the novel gradually fell out of the forefront of popular interest since contemporary readers felt that its solutions and worldview were outdated. The novel gained topical significance after the Soviet occupation of Hungary in 1945, and the authorities did not allow its republication until 1981, citing the “fact” that the text would offend the sensitivities of the surrounding peoples. Deeper social processes lay behind the attitude of the authorities towards the novel. After the communist takeover, behind the positive slogans associated with the concepts of “internationalism”, “peace camp” or “friendly cooperation” within the realized system of communism, a strong external and internal enemy image remained in the background, a contradiction that continuously rotted the society of the country that presented itself as an idyll from within. In contrast, there were countless coping strategies: some left the country, others went into internal exile, while others sought new ways to experience their freedom.
“Te Deum laudamus!
In the churches of the civilized world, songs of thanksgiving rang out in the languages of all peoples. In Warsaw, it was ‘Boże, coś Polskę’, in Saint Petersburg, ‘Боже, Царя храни! (Bozhe, Tsarya khrani)’, in Berlin, ‘Heil dir!’, in London, ‘God, save the King!’, in Budapest, ‘Isten tartsd meg’ [Lord, keep it forever], in Vienna, ‘Gott, erhalte’, and in Otthon, ‘Isten, áldd meg a magyart’ [God bless the Hungarians].
Peace became perpetual.
Te Deum laudamus!
Queen Hermione Peleia one day visited the state of Otthon with the king and heir to the throne. She owed them much. The most precious gift was the treasured one million ancient Hungarian people, who transformed the region of Hungary that had fled from the sea into a paradise again (without the serpent). She had to thank them for this.
This was the queen’s thanks to Rozáli.
‘My son is ten years old now. So far, he has been taught how to be a king. Now I leave him here with you until he learns how to be a citizen.’”
“The dreamer of the Novel of the Next Century basically did not dream even a hundredth part of what is happening today.”
“If No Man’s Island is a symbol of separation from society, and therefore the solution to Tímár’s individual life, what should happen to those who want to live in the community? Is it possible to remain honest in modern society? The Novel of the Next Century answers these questions.”
In the Novel of the Next Century the model state of Otthon embodies the creation of an ideal society in the world. Social and gender equality, religious freedom, and the spread of scientific thought in Otthon can all be interpreted as a response to the disillusionment that characterized Jókai at this time due to the domestic public situation. This is how the idea of a utopia realized in the 20th century came about, where Jókai presents the ideal society and future. The responses to the world’s ecological problems in the novel may seem naive today. However, the image of a person capable of forming a symbiosis with nature, one who uses and does not exploit the resources of his environment, perhaps still presents us with a desired goal and direction.
“In the middle of the gardens are houses for individual families, shaded by fruit-bearing+ trees, lined with flower-filled groves; the cocoons of a new type of silkworm* growing freely on the living hedges of the gardens turn yellow like shiny silk fruits, and in the background, as if mocking the old redans, are dwarf castles with arrow slits: they are beehives. The surface of the river is far from unpopulated. Along the shores+ float huts built on rafts, from which flocks of gentle birds emerge, which by day roam among the oil plants* and pluck the harmful beetles from them, and at night swim home to the sound of drums to their floating flotillas.
This is the city of the garden industry.
This is the favourite industry of the independent continent, living in its own hearth, and its work is rewarded ten times more than ploughing.”
Péter Szőke (1910–1994) was an ornithologist and bird song researcher who sought to uncover the origins of music. To do this, he observed not only human musical expressions but also musical elements in nature, which involved observing bird songs by recording them and slowing them down. He believed that he had discovered motifs similar to folk songs in their melodies. While the findings of his research remain controversial in many respects from a scientific perspective, his ideas and hypotheses are nevertheless noteworthy.
Lilienthal’s biplane glider, Hungarian Museum of Technology and Transport
Gyula Hincz: Üzenet [Message], 1979, National Széchényi Library Map, Poster and Small Print Collection
Bird preparations: European serin, great tit, chaffinch, Hungarian Museum of Natural History
Péter Szőke: Illustrations from his PhD dissertation titled Madárhang mint biológiai zene [Bird Sounds as Biological Music], 1967, M National Széchényi Library Theatre History and Music Archive