Literature

Hungarian literature is the body of literary works predominantly created in Hungarian, but may also contain works written in other languages (usually Latin) produced by Hungarians or dealing with issues closely related to Hungarian culture. This can be seen as one of the Unique Cultural Characteristics In Hungary. While it was less well-known in the English-speaking world for centuries, Hungary's literature rose to prominence in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, thanks to a new generation of internationally accessible writers such as Mór Jókai, Antal Szerb, Sándor Márai, Imre Kertész, and Magda Szabó.

György Bessenyei's efforts revitalized Hungarian literature in the last quarter of the same century, while Ferenc Kazinczy led a Hungarian language reform. The foundation of a national theater, as well as the establishment of the Hungarian Academy of Science in 1825, ensured the development of a national literature. The poets Károly Kisfaludy, his brother Sándor, János Arany, Mihály Vörösmarty, and Sándor Petfi, as well as the writer Mór Jókai, were the prominent literary figures in the nineteenth century. Endre Ady and Attila József were notable poets of the early twentieth century, and the dramatists Ferenc Herczeg and Ferenc Molnár attained international acclaim.

Between the two World Wars, novelists were divided into three groups: Horthy regime defenders, Populists seeking to ameliorate the situation of peasants, and Communists. The October 1956 insurrection, which included a number of notable writers, was followed by a gradual loosening of censorship; censorship ended with the fall of the Communist administration.