Forradalmi és csataképek. Jókai novelláskötete a szabadságharc után

Abstract

The short stories were published under the name Sajó after the suppression of the war of independence in July 1850 but everybody knew who was under this pseudonym. They brought much popularity to Jókai as they gave comfort to the sad country of Hungary—and not only comfort but also moral guidance. This study introduces all the short stories. The writer depicts human characters in the foreground of the short stories with whom it was easy for the reader to identify. Historic events stay in the background, with realistic representation. The structure of the short stories anticipates various modern structures of later times. Their style is diverse—always in accordance with the content. Shocking emotions are described with sublime style, primarily using figures of speech, especially schemes often in rhythmic prose. This sublime style is justified, many times it is part of the argumentation built on enthymeme. Today at school, no attention is paid to the short stories of Jókai. Battle images [Csataképek], however, could be taught to students both on history and literature classes, not only for the sake of knowledge transfer but also for stylistic analysis. The short stories The white angel [A fehér angyal] and The little grey man [A kis szürke ember] are especially suitable for this purpose because they are short, easy to read aloud and they can inspire exciting conversations and are about Artúr Görgey and Józef Bem—both of them respected by Jókai.