Egy hang a sírból
A Voice from the Grave

Sándor Petőfi: Az utósó ember (The Last Man)

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses one of the least analyzed poems by one of the most significant Hungarian poets of the 19th century, Sándor Petőfi (1823-1849). After presenting the philological background, the analysis focuses on the question of the origin and parallels of the most important element of the poem’s setting, the image of the last man left of humanity (the poem can be seen as his monologue). Apart from the parallels that can be drawn with works in world literature (such as Mary Shelley’s novel The Last Man), the paper finds a real philological connection with the Ossian myth and the story of Ahasuerus, which creates the image of the ’eternal Jew’, since both these antecedents are demonstrably part of Petőfi’s literary background, and he translated from both traditions.

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