Letters from Turkey by Kelemen Mikes / Translated from Hungarian by Bernard Adams / English edition of Törökországi levelek first published in 1794 / Corvina books 2016 / Paperback

Paperback 2016

ISBN: 9789631363371  /  978-9631363371

ISBN-10: 9631363376

PAGES: 328

PUBLISHER: Corvina kiadó - Corvina books

LANGUAGE: English (Angol)

English Description:

In English for the first time, these 207 letters were written by the eighteenth century Hungarian nobleman Kelemen Mikes, in exile in Turkey, to his aunt in Constantinople over a period of forty years. Mikes tells of the current events of Turkey and beyond, as well as of the daily lives, hopes, and disappointments of himself and his companions in exile, one of whom was Ferenc Rakoczi II, the Prince of Transylvania

Kelemen Mikes (1690–1761) was a Transylvanian-born Hungarian political figure and essayist, noted for his rebellious activities against the Habsburg Monarchy. Mikes is referred to as the "Hungarian Goethe", made famous by his Letters from Turkey. With these, Mikes laid the foundations of Hungarian literary prose,and he is regarded as one of the first Hungarian prose authors.

He was born in Zágon and grew up in Zabola (present-day Covasna County, Romania). He fought the Habsburg until being forced to flee to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, France and eventually the Ottoman Empire. While in Tekirdağ, where he lived in exile with the Transylvanian Prince Ferenc Rákóczi, Mikes completed and published his essays. After Rákóczi's death in 1735, he stayed in exile until his own death.

Hungarian Summary:

A Törökországi levelek Mikes Kelemen legismertebb műve, 207 fiktív levélből álló gyűjtemény, melyek közül az első 1717. október 10-én, az utolsó 1758. december 20-án kelt. A levél írója a bujdosó Mikes Kelemen, címzettje a Konstantinápoly mellett lakó kitalált P. E. grófné. A levelek leírják a száműzöttek mindennapjait, ugyanakkor tükrözik írójának érzelmi hullámzásait, és számos történelmi, kortörténeti adalék is szerepel bennük. Szerb Antal szerint Mikes Kelemen levelei „a lélektörténet új fejezetét kezdik a magyar irodalomban: a zordonan vallásos és izzóan heroikus lelkek után ő vezeti be a humánum korát.”