A page-turning dystopian classic that stands alongside Brave New World and Gulliver's Travels. Voyage to Kazohinia is a tour de force of twentieth-century literature--and it is here published in English for the first time outside of Hungary. Sándor Szathmári's comical novel chronicles the travels of a modern Gulliver on the eve of World War II. A shipwrecked English ship's surgeon finds himself on an unknown island whose inhabitants, the Hins, live a technologically advanced existence without emotions, desires, arts, money, or politics. Soon unhappy amid this bleak perfection, Gulliver asks to be admitted to the closed settlement of the Behins, beings with souls and atavistic human traits. He has seen nothing yet. A massively entertaining mix of satire and science fiction, Voyage to Kazohinia has seen half a dozen editions in Hungary in the seventy years since its original publication and remains the country's most popular cult classic. From the Trade Paperback edition.

This book focuses on the most important utopian and dystopian literary texts in nineteenth and twentieth-century Hungarian literature, and therefore widens the scope of the traditionally Anglophone canon. Utopian studies is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, and this research integrates literary hermeneutics with ideas and methods from political science and the history of ideas. In doing so, it argues that Hungarian utopianism was influenced by the region’s (and Hungarian culture’s) position of permanent liminality between Western and Eastern European patterns of power structures, social and political order. After a thorough methodological introduction, some early modern texts written in Hungary are discussed, while the detailed analyses focus on nineteenth-century texts, written by Bessenyei, Madách, and Jókai, whereas the twentieth century is represented by Karinthy, Babits and Szathmári. In the interpretations the results of contemporary scholarship is applied, particularly the works of Lyman Tower Sargent, Gregory Claeys and Fátima Vieira.

The 500th anniversary of Thomas More’s Utopia has directed attention toward the importance of utopianism. This book investigates the possibilities of cooperation between the humanities and the social sciences in the analysis of 20th century and contemporary utopian phenomena. The papers deal with major problems of interpreting utopias, the relationship of utopia and ideology, and the highly problematic issue as to whether utopia necessarily leads to dystopia. Besides reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary utopian investigations, the eleven essays effectively represent the constructive attitudes of utopian thought, a feature that not only defines late 20th- and 21st-century utopianism, but is one of the primary reasons behind the rising importance of the topic. The volume’s originality and value lies not only in the innovative theoretical approaches proposed, but also in the practical application of the concept of utopia to a variety of phenomena which have been neglected in the utopian studies paradigm, especially to the rarely discussed Central European texts and ideologies.

A unique work of international reference with more than 300 individual articles on the most important authors, this resource tells the fascinating story of the development of the literature from its humble beginnings in 1887 to its worldwide use in every literary genre today.

Intellectual Horizons offers a pioneering, transnational and comparative treatment of key thematic areas in the intellectual and cultural history of Central and Eastern Europe in the twentieth century. For most of the twentieth century, Central and Eastern European ideas and cultures constituted an integral part of wider European trends. However, the intellectual and cultural history of this diverse region has rarely been incorporated sufficiently into nominally comprehensive histories of Europe. This volume redresses this underrepresentation and provides a more balanced perspective on the recent past of the continent through original, critical overviews of themes ranging from the social and conceptual history of intellectuals and histories of political thought and historiography, to literary, visual and religious cultures, to perceptions and representations of the region in the twentieth century. While structured thematically, individual contributions are organized chronologically. They emphasize, where relevant, generational experiences, agendas and accomplishments, while taking into account the sharp ruptures that characterize the period. The third in a four-volume set on Central and Eastern Europe in the twentieth century, it is the go-to resource for understanding the intellectual and cultural history of this dynamic region.

Containing thirty-one lectures deliv-ered at the Fifth Münster Symposium on Jonathan Swift in May 2006, this volume testifies to the broad spectrum of research interests in the Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin, and his work. The essays have been grouped in nine sections: theoretical approaches (A. C. Elias, Jr, Melinda Rabb); bio-graphical problems (W. B. Carno-chan, João Fróes); bibliographical and textual studies (James E. May, Stephen Karian, James McLaverty); A Tale of a Tub (Marcus Walsh, Allan Ingram, Frank T. Boyle); historical, religious, and political issues (Sean Connolly, Ian Higgins, Howard D. Weinbrot, Toby C. Barnard, Valerie Rumbold); poetry (Clive T. Probyn, John Irwin Fischer, Dirk F. Passmann and Hermann J. Real; James Wool-ley); Swift and Ireland (Joseph McMinn, Sabine Baltes, Sean Moore); Gulliver's Travels (Ann C. Kelly, Serge Soupel, Clement Hawes, J. A. Downie); and Reception and Adapta-tion (Peter Sabor, Sabine Wendel, Flavio Gregory, Gabriella Hartvig, Michael Düring).