HERCZEG FERENC NYELVI ÉLETÚTJA
FERENC HERCZEG’S LANGUAGE CAREER

Author(s): Laura Sájter
Subject(s): Hungarian Literature
Published by: Scientia Kiadó
Keywords: language programme; adaptation; bilingualism; social-cultural and linguistic assimilation;
Summary/Abstract: The unique life of Ferenc Herczeg, who was a forbidden author between 1945 and 1980, can be summed up in a nutshell as follows: how the German-speaking boy from the Banat Swabian region becomes the Hungarian playwright who put Hungarian drama on the path to European success, a committed writer of national endeavours, and the creator of a successful Hungarian prose and dramatic oeuvre. The subject of the research is to explain where and how Ferenc Herczeg’s “language programme” became so successful, since “There was no other native speaker who learned Hungarian so well as Ferenc Herczeg” (Hegedűs). Examining the language path, the research may explain the adaptation considered to be the key to success and the contribution of the author’s bilingualism to the foundation of success. In the case of Herczeg, social, cultural, and linguistic assimilation is so successful that it gives rise to countless speculations. The majority of criticism seeks the social adaptation and reflects less on linguistic assimilation. My aim is to prove that Herczeg, a German-speaking boy of Swabian descent, became Hungarian because of literature-centric Hungarian culture.

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