Mikó Árpád – Verő Mária - Jávor Anna szerk.: Mátyás király öröksége, Késő reneszánsz művészet Magyarországon (16–17. század) 2. kötet (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2008/4)

The English Summary of Volumes I—II

PÁL ÁCS THE SHIFTING PILLARS OF THE LATE RENAISSANCE STOICISM AND MANNERISM IN LITERATURE The fashion for Mannerism Mannerism is a concept which has become worn and outdated, especially in literary history. It is not, of course, the body of work produced within a certain set of ideas, but the outlook claiming to recognise "Mannerist" features in literature at the turn of the 16

th and 17

th centuries which has become obsolete. The Mannerism issue became a fashionable topic of discussion in Hungary in the 1960s and 70s, when monograph by the outstanding art sociologist Arnold Hauser became a kind of cult book. Mannerism had evolved as an art-history category before Hauser, but he developed new interpretation which started out from the "crisis of the Renaissance". His entire concept was a response to the shock of lost values among left-wing intellectuals, and anybody who brought up the subject of Mannerism in Hungary at that time could consider himself, with good reason, to be an "alternative thinker". The crises of socialism were effectively written into the "crisis of the Renaissance". The long-running Mannerism debate placed the East-West polemic in defence of modern art on to a historical plane. People who saw value in "deviant" and "decadent" Mannerist works, and not just in the artistic ideal of the "pure Renaissance", were doing the same thing as those who criticised the schematic realism approach and attempted to include Picasso, Kafka and other "degenerate" art among "progressive" cultural traditions. The "philosophy" of Mannerism : the influence of Justus Lipsius The concept of "Hungarian Mannerism" started with Tibor Klaniczay

's 1959 essay Problems of the Hungarian Late Renaissance (Stoicism and Mannerism). This built up a theory of the Late Renaissance in Hungary on the two pillars of Neostoic philosophy and Neoplatonic aesthetics. The ideological foundations were taken from the writings of Justus Lipsius. De constantia, published in 1584, is a literary work setting out Lipsius' Neostoic philosophy of life, and Politica, published in 1589, is the reference book of the theory of the state based on Stoic principles. Lipsius was a Flemish humanist — philologist, historian, political theorist — who revived ancient Stoic philosophy and the spirit of Tacitus and Seneca. He was renowned throughout Europe and exerted a powerful and sustained influence on Hungarian culture. Lipsius' influence in Hungary first manifested itself among his humanist colleagues: he was in close contact with János Zsámboky (Joannes Sambucus) and András Dudith (Andreas Dudithius). To correspond with Lipsius was a matter of the highest prestige, and to have one's name included in his published volumes of correspondence was to enter the true elite. This prompted a new generation of ambitious Hungarian Lipsius-followers to approach him by letter, young Hungarian aristocrats and intellectuals who formed into a literary circle, Lipsius' "intellectual family". From this time on, Lipsius devoted particular attention to affairs in Hungary - the Turkish peril, the religious struggles in the kingdom and the resulting intellectual movements. The most exquisite manifestation of Lipsius' reception in Hungary is an epistle by János Rimay, one of the finest Hungarian poets of the day, who wrote in both Hungarian and Latin. The letter bears witness to great Rimay's great erudition in Lipsius' works and thinking. Much more significant, however, are the reflections in the letter which touch on the essence of Neostoic philosophy and theology. Rimay openly comes out in favour of religious tolerance and rejects "superstition". He espouses Lipsius' philosophy of fate, conveying that he understands and esteems the master's much-debated thoughts on the doctrine of mercy. Rimay became the focus of Hungarian intellectuals who were receptive to Lipsius' ideals. The Hungarian translations of Lipsius were the product of Protestant humanism. Constantia and Politica were published in Leiden in 1641, during the Thirty Years' War, 50-60 years later than Lipsius' Dutch, German, French, English, Spanish and Polish translations, but are nevertheless important to European Neostoic thought, and form an important part of early Hungarian literature. Lipsius' work also prompted an echo among Hungarian Catholics, many of whom found sympathy with the ideas of the apocryphal "Christian Seneca". Lipsius' influence in Hungary took effect in three major areas: literature, religion and politics. His ideas were highly variable, and thus found acceptance among broad and often mutually hostile sections of the educated population. His influence on people's thinking was so diverse that it is difficult to interpret as a consistent "philosophy of Mannerism" : Light and shadow : Mannerism in literature As Mannerism became a more widespread concept, new style categories were proposed based on social, ideological and doctrinal notions, formal characteristics being regarded as second-