Miért kék macska? Beöthy László elfeledett regényéről
Why Is the Cat Blue? László Beöthy's forgotten novel

Summary/Abstract: László Beöthy's novel Goldbach & Comp’s Spice Shop "To the Blue Cat", published in 1858, can be seen according to traditional literary history, a paradigmatic 19th century novel, read according to its mixed genre lines, in the circle of attraction between Sue's romantic vision and Dickensian realism, and as a consequence, in the ‘second line’ of the development of the Hungarian novel. However, in the light of current research, these relations are much more extensive and complex. Beöthy’s novel is not only not a piece of second-rate literature, but also plays an important genre-creating role in the given historical-context: it represents one of the first versions of the Hungarian crime story. The paper also discusses the historical antecedents of the genre both in world literature and Hungarian literature, offering details about which detective novels and criminal stories of the late 20th century and the present are based on the tradition created by Beöthy. As an important part of the research, the paper also raises the issue of the contemporary relevance of teaching the so-called popular register.

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