Mimesis of Consciousness in the Fiction of Zsigmond Kemény

Cooper, Thomas (2003) Mimesis of Consciousness in the Fiction of Zsigmond Kemény. Hungarian Studies, 17 (1). pp. 97-155. ISSN 0236-6568

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Abstract

This article examines the novels of mid-nineteenth-century Hungarian author Zsigmond Kemény. Falling roughly at the beginning of what is often referred to in critical literature as the century of psychological realism (1850-1950), Kemény's novels contain numerous examples of the various narrative techniques developed by authors throughout Europe as they called on language to serve both mimesis of action and mimesis of thought. His works can be cited as examples of a European wide shift in literature away from the narration of events towards the narration of thoughts and feelings. This corresponded to the emergence of the conception of the individual that accompanied the Romantic rejection of the Enlightenment faith in the universality of humankind. As texts drawn from one of the less familiar literary traditions of Europe, Kemény's novels constitute illustrations of the international nature of this trend. Moreover, they represent works that develop the distinctive potential of the novel as a genre the audience of which (the reader) has access not only to the actions and deeds, but also the thoughts and impressions of a subjective consciousness.

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