Az Egri Ho Si Minh Tanárképző Főiskola Tud. Közleményei. 1984. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 17)

I. TANULMÁNYOK A TÁRSADALOMTUDOMÁNYOK KÖRÉBŐL - Lehel Vadon: The Reception of Upton Sinclair's Works in Hungary

báró, and published by the Pátria Corporation. The critics did not react to the appearance of the novel, and it was only mentioned by the Corvina periodical in the newly published books column.

8 A Captain of Industry was not successful in Hungary. In spite of this fact the novel was published on two more occasions by Athenaeum Publishing House in 1915 and 1919, translated by Béla Sárosi. 4. The Moneychangers (1908) is the second part of Upton Sinclair's second trilogy, a follow-on from the novel The Metropolis. The third part of the trilogy, a drama entitled The Machine is rather strange from the point of view of its literary genre. Only The Moneychangers became well-known in Hungary under the title of Parázna pénz, which was published by Kultura Publishing House in 1918 in the translation of Andor Halasi. The novel was republished in 1948 by Nova Publishing House under the title of Mindenható pénz. 5. In the United States Samuel the Seeker (1910) received a varied reception both from the critics and readers. Even those who had followed the writings of Sinclair differed in their opinions: Floyd Dell considered the novel to be Sinclair's worst,

9 but the famous Danish poet and novelist Frederik van Eeden thought it to be his best.

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0 The reception of the novel in Hungary was unanimous. It was much enjoyed by the working class readers for a long time. Even those critics who condemned Sinclair for his unliterary style and lack of artistic depth, allowed this to be his most artistic achievement, in which he was able to rise to the heights of poeticism. Samuel the Seeker was a best-seller in Hungary. The novel first appeared in the newspaper Népszava in 1913, translated by Dezső Schőner, in 96 episodes, each taking up half a page.

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1 Following the success of the novel the Népszava Publishing House printed the novel again at the end of 1913, this time in book form.

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2 The novel was reprinted altogether three times. In 1948 Klára Bihari dramatized the novel, but it did not reach the theatres.

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3 Márton Garas, an important figure in the age of silent movies, produced the film of the novel in 1919.

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4 The film was made within the cultural-political programme of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. This film adaptation of Samuel the Seeker is a measure of the importance of the novel, and of the evaluation of Sinclair in Hungary, especially if we take into consideration that other works of the writer were only filmed in the U.S.A. {The Jungle, All Star Feature Film, 1914; The Wet Parade, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1932.) and in the Soviet Union {Jimmy Higgins, 1928). Although written in 1910, and translated into Hungarian in 1913, Samuel the Seeker did not meet with any critical appreciation until ten years later, only after its second publication, when a favourable critique appeared in Népszava.

1* In spite of Sinclair's materialism, his novel is Christian-Socialistic, desribing the cruel antagonisms of society through the disappointments and poor lot of its hero. Indeed, the writer of the review emphasized as of primary importance, the social injustices faced by Samuel during his life. According to György Szántó "Samuel the Seeker epitomises the naive purity of the elemental, primordial searcher after all forms of truth in Christfigure."

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6 Géza Hegedűs discovered an interesting relationship between Sinclair's Christian-Socialistic way of thinking and his artistic expression. 27* 419