Folia historica 23/2

Sedlmayr Krisztina: Életmód és enteriőr Kosztolányi Dezső Pacsirta című regényében

A distinguished picce of novel, also from this point of view, is Dezső Kosztolányi's The Lark. The provinc ial life of the turn of the 19-20

t

h century revives on its pages. Through the everyday life of the Vajkay's, a typical middle class family's way of living unfolds itself. The novel tells the story of only one week, and the characters appear in few scenes. The fiveroom house, the family meals, clothing and customs are all shown in relief. The key question of the story is about the roles that the couple and their daughter fill in the life of the provincial town. Thus human relations, being very important for studying history on the micro scale, become conspicuous. The study deals with 'data' selected from the novel, according to the classical subject matters of lifestyle research. The question can be raised, whether these descriptions may be considered authentic and whether they may be used as sociological sources. The bourgeois way of life at the turn of the 19-20

1'

1 century is a well-known area, owing to memoirs, contemporary accounts, diaries and photographs. The more or less just picture of the matter that is available may be tinged by the help of fiction, especially pieces rich in accurate descriptions like The Lark. Provided that these fit into the range of analogies, the employment of the novel as a source docs not raise a problem, but confirms the knowledge already in existence. The study makes an attempt at adjusting the world represented by The Lark to the living notion of the turn of the 19-20

1'

1 century. Fordította: Sallay Gergely Pál 115