What is the Rationale of Periodization?
What is the Rationale of Periodization?

Summary/Abstract: Literary evolution in Hungary and Poland has had very much in common since the very beginning up to the present, but the division into epochs within each national literature has always been considerably different. Political changes played an important part in distinguishing various epochs of Hungarian literary history in the scholarship. Certain scholars combine the historical periods with literary movements or with spiritual movements. In Polish and Slovenian periodization literary movements dominate. The term Enlightenment and Positivism are also current. The latter corresponds to Realism and Naturalism in Hungarian and Slovenian criticism. The period between 1918-1939 does not have a common name in Hungary and Poland, whereas it is referred to as Expressionism and Social Realism in Slovenia. The comparative periodization of literatures in East-Central Europe can make literary scholars’ views more exact in cases when opinions differ in stating time limits for different periods. Such a comparison may contribute to a more thorough understanding of the “phase delays” that may have occured between these literatures.

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