Mór Jókai

He was born in Komárom in the Kingdom of Hungary to József Jókai of Ásva (1781–1837), a member of the Ásva branch of the ancient Jókay noble family; his mother was noblewoman Mária Pulay (1790–1856). As a boy, he was timid and his health delicate, so he was educated at home until the age of ten, when he was sent to Pozsony (today Bratislava, Slovakia). He then attended the Calvinist college of Pápa (Pápai Református Kollégium), where he first met Sándor Petőfi and Sándor Kozma.

When Jókai was twelve, his father died. His family wanted him to become a lawyer like his father had been, and he completed his education in Kecskemét and Pest to that end. He won his first case as an independent lawyer.

Jókai was bored by his work as a lawyer, and he was encouraged in his art by the praise the Hungarian Academy of Sciences gave his first play (Hungarian: Zsidó fiú, lit. 'Jewish Boy'). In 1845, he moved to Pest where Petőfi introduced him to literary circles. Within the year his first noted novel (Hungarian: Hétköznapok, lit. 'Working Days') was published as a serial by Pesti Divatlap, followed by a hardcover edition in 1846. It was received with widespread critical acclaim. The following year, Jókai was appointed the editor of Életképek, the then-leading Hungarian literary magazine, and gathered a circle of young writers around himself.

At the outbreak of the revolution of 1848, Jókai was enthusiastic about its nationalist cause. Before the revolution, he had been a moderate liberal who opposed excesses, but the nationalist victories of April and May 1849 persuaded him support Lajos Kossuth's deposition of the then-reigning House of Habsburg. When the revolutionary war ended in defeat, he was present at the surrender at Világos (today Şiria, Romania) in August 1849. He intended to commit suicide to avoid imprisonment, but his wife, Róza Laborfalvi helped him escape on foot through Russian lines to Pest.

For the next fourteen years Jókai was politically suspicious to the regime. He devoted himself to the rehabilitation of the Hungarian language, writing thirty novels and volumes of tales, essays, and literary criticism. His renowned works Erdély aranykora ('The Golden Age of Transylvania'), its sequel Török világ Magyarországon ('The Turks in Hungary'), Egy magyar nábob ('A Hungarian Nabob'), its sequel Kárpáthy Zoltán, Janicsárok végnapjai ('The Last Days of the Janissaries'), and Szomorú napok ('Sad Days') were written during this time.

After the re-establishment of the Hungarian constitution by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Jókai took an active part in politics. He was a long-time supporter of Kálmán Tisza's administration, sitting for over twenty years in parliament and founding the government paper A Hon in 1863. In 1897, King Francis Joseph appointed him a member of the Upper House. In 1899, he caused a country-wide scandal by marrying Bella Nagy, a twenty-year-old actress.

Jókai died in Budapest on 5 May 1904. He was buried with his first wife (who had died in 1886) in the Fiume Road Graveyard.

Jókai in his study;
photograph by Mór Erdélyi

Jókai was an extremely prolific writer, especially after 1870. He devoted most of his time to literature. Among the finest of his later works are Az arany ember ('A Man of Gold', translated into Englishund er the title The Man with the Golden Touch), the most popular A kőszívű ember fiai (The Heartless Man's Sons), the heroic chronicle of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, and A tengerszemű hölgy (Eyes like the Sea), the latter of which won the Hungarian Academy's prize in 1890.

His Jövő század regénye (Novel of the Next Century, 1872) is an important early work of science fiction, though the term did not yet exist at the time.[5] In spite of its romantic elements, this monumental two-volume novel includes some acute observations and foresights, such as the prediction of a revolution in Russia and the establishment of a totalitarian state there, or the arrival of aviation. Because it could be read as a satirical allegory on Leninism and Stalinism, the book was tacitly banned in Hungary in the decades of Socialism (only a 'Critical Edition' was published in 1981.)[6]

His writings became a major influence in the works of Gyula Krudy.

Collections of his works:

• Összes művei. Nemzeti (Jubileumi) Kiadás. (Complete Works, "National Edition") 1894-1898, 100 vols.
• Hátrahagyott művei. (Late and Uncollected Works; the Sequel of the "National Edition") 1912, 10 vols.
• Összes művei. Centenáriumi kiadás. (Complete Works, "Centenary Edition") 1925-1932, 100 vols.
• Összes művei. Kritikai kiadás. (Complete Works, "Critical Edition") 1962-, in advance.

• The Hungarian Nabob, directed by Travers Vale (1915, based on the novel Egy magyar nábob)
• Az aranyember, directed by Alexander Korda (1918, based on the novel The Man with the Golden Touch)
• White Rose, directed by Alexander Korda (1919, based on the novel A fehér rózsa)
• The Gypsy Baron, directed by Frederic Zelnik (1927, based on the operetta The Gypsy Baron)
• The Gypsy Baron, directed by Karl Hartl (1935, based on the operetta The Gypsy Baron)
• Az aranyember, directed by Béla Gaál (1936, based on the novel The Man with the Golden Touch)
• The Gypsy Baron, directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt (1954, based on the operetta The Gypsy Baron)
• The Gypsy Baron, directed by Kurt Wilhelm (1962, based on the operetta The Gypsy Baron)
• The Man of Gold, directed by Viktor Gertler (1962, based on the novel The Man with the Golden Touch)
• A kőszívű ember fiai, directed by Zoltán Várkonyi (1965, based on the novel A kőszívű ember fiai)
• Egy magyar nábob, directed by Zoltán Várkonyi (1966, based on the novel Egy magyar nábob)
• Zoltán Kárpáthy, directed by Zoltán Várkonyi (1966, based on the novel Zoltán Kárpáthy)
• Szaffi, directed by Attila Dargay (1984, based on the novel The Gypsy Baron)

Three stamps were issued by Hungary in his honor, all on 1 February 1925.[7]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mór Jókai.

• Works by Mór Jókai at Hungarian Electronic Library
• Works by Mór Jókai at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Mór Jókai at Internet Archive
• Maurus Jókai’s novels in English translation (in Hungarian but with an abstract in English at the end) by Judit Kádár (in Irodalomtörténeti Közlemények "Bulletins in Literary History")
• Works by Mór Jókai at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Mór Jókai at Find a Grave
• Mór Jókai's works: text, concordances and frequency lists
• Mór Jókai at IMDb