Egy hungarus értelmiségi pályafutásának tipikus és egyedi vonásai. Bél Mátyás elfeledett (ön)életrajza
Typical and Idiosyncratic Features in the Career of a “Hungarus” Intellectual. The Forgotten (Auto)biography of Matthias Bel

Summary/Abstract: Matthias Bel (1684–1749), Hungarian historian and geographer was as renowed that he could see his own long biography in his life, which was published in 1746 by Johann Jakob Brucker and Johann Jakob Haid in two languages, and two separate series, but of identical content in the fifth volume of their Pinacotheca scriptorum nostra aetate litteris illustrium in Latin, and Bilder-sal heutiges tages lebender, und durch Gelahrtheit berühmter Schrifftsteller in German. With arguments based on both style and content, the present paper at first demonstrates that the text in question is in fact an autobiography. Next, it examines the roles in which Bel chose to present himself, in other words, the self-representation he used in the text. The major roles are the following: 1. the unfortunate student and reformer teacher; 2. the prosecuted pietist pastor; 3. the patriotric intellectual. Finally, the paper explores the extent to which the career of Bel was typical or idiosyncratic if placed in the context of the living conditions of the contemporary Protestant “Hungarus” intellectual elite. The concusion is that while his school years, university studies and early career presents several common features with the curricula of other contemporary Hungarian men of letters, Bel’s immense scientific production and its very high level was far from ordinary, and was not exclusively rooted in this “Hungarus” scientific world. Consequently, it may be misleading to regard Bel as a typical “Hungarus” intellectual. Emphasising the necessity for a new, modern biography of Bel, the paper also outlines its plan as conceived by the author.

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