The Other Europeans.

HUNGARIAN literature; EAST European literature; PROSE literature; BOOKS; CULTURE; HISTORICAL sociology

The article presents information on Hungarian literature. Prose fiction came of age rather late in Hungary. Though a number of its twentieth-century innovators rank with the best European modernists, it's only in the last twenty years or so that fiction has supplanted poetry as the predominant genre. Known for its openness and vibrancy, Hungarian society is often judged to be frivolous as well, with an urbane but lightweight culture to match. Such simplifications, especially if they discourage a serious response to a culture, can be harmful, but the truth of the matter is that much Hungarian literature does have a certain flair, a lightness of touch, even at its most serious.