The main object of the author, himself a Hungarian, has been to impress the reader with a vivid picture of the chief currents and the leading personalities of Hungarian literature. Magyar literature is too vast a topic to be fully treated within the very limited space of a small essay like the present. By introducing the comparative method of historical investigation and analysis, by means of which Hungarian works are measured, contrasted to, or compared with works of English, French, German, Italian or the ancient classical writers, the reader may obtain, it is hoped, a more life-like idea of a literature hitherto unknown to him. There are chapters on the nature of the Hungarian language, on the writers of the Middle Ages, 18th and 19th century. Originally published in 1898.
