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When Jókai was twelve, his father died. His family wanted him to become a lawyer like his father had been, and he completed his education in Kecskemét and Pest to that end. He won his first case as an independent lawyer.[citation needed]
Jókai was bored by his work as a lawyer, and he was encouraged in his art by the praise the Hungarian Academy of Sciences gave his first play (Hungarian: Zsidó fiú, lit. 'Jewish Boy').[citation needed] In 1845, he moved to Pest where Petőfi introduced him to literary circles. Within the year his first noted novel (Hungarian: Hétköznapok, lit. 'Working Days') was published as a serial by Pesti Divatlap [hu], followed by a hardcover edition in 1846. It was received with widespread critical acclaim.[citation needed] The following year, Jókai was appointed the editor of Életképek [hu], the then-leading Hungarian literary magazine, and gathered a circle of young writers around himself.[citation needed]
At the outbreak of the revolution of 1848, Jókai was enthusiastic about its nationalist cause. Before the revolution, he had been a moderate liberal who opposed excesses, but the nationalist victories of April and May 1849 persuaded him support Lajos Kossuth's deposition of the then-reigning House of Habsburg.[citation needed] When the revolutionary war ended in defeat, he was present at the surrender at Világos (today Şiria, Romania) in August 1849. He intended to commit suicide to avoid imprisonment, but his wife, Róza Laborfalvi helped him escape on foot through Russian lines to Pest.[citation needed]
For the next fourteen years Jókai was politically suspicious to the regime. He devoted himself to the rehabilitation of the Hungarian language,[clarification needed] writing thirty novels and volumes of tales, essays, and literary criticism. His renowned works Erdély aranykora ('The Golden Age of Transylvania'), its sequelTörök világ Magyarországon ('The Turks in Hungary'), Egy magyar nábob ('A Hungarian Nabob'), its sequel Kárpáthy Zoltán, Janicsárok végnapjai ('The Last Days of the Janissaries'), and Szomorú napok ('Sad Days') were written during this time.
Jókai was an extremely prolific writer, especially after 1870.[citation needed] He devoted most of his time to literature. Among the finest of his later works are Az arany ember ('A Man of Gold', translated into Englishund er the title The Man with the Golden Touch), the most popular A kőszívű ember fiai (The Heartless Man's Sons), the heroic chronicle of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, and A tengerszemű hölgy (Eyes like the Sea), the latter of which won the Hungarian Academy's prize in 1890.[clarification needed]
His Jövő század regénye (Novel of the Next Century, 1872) is an important early work of science fiction, though the term did not yet exist at the time.[5] In spite of its romantic elements, this monumental two-volume novel includes some acute observations and foresights, such as the prediction of a revolution in Russia and the establishment of a totalitarian state there, or the arrival of aviation. Because it could be read as a satirical allegory on Leninism and Stalinism, the book was tacitly banned in Hungary in the decades of Socialism (only a 'Critical Edition' was published in 1981.)[6]
His writings became a major influence in the works of Gyula Krudy.
Hungarian Sketches in Peace and War (Hungarian: Forradalmi- és csataképek, lit. 'Images of Revolution and Battle'), 1854. A selection translated by Imre Szabad.
Midst the Wild Carpathians (Hungarian: Erdély aranykora, lit. 'The Golden Age of Transylvania'), 1852. Transl. by R. Nisbet Bain in 1894, and again under the title The Golden Age in Transylvania by T. László Palotás in 2022.
The Slaves of the Padishah (Hungarian: Török világ Magyarországon, lit. 'Turkish World in Hungary'), 1852. Transl. by R. Nisbet Bain in 1902.
The Corsair King (Hungarian: A kalózkirály, lit. 'The Pirate King'), 1852–1853. Transl. by Mary J. Safford in 1901.
An Hungarian Nabob (Hungarian: Egy magyar nábob), 1853. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain in 1898.
Halil the Pedlar (Hungarian: A fehér rózsa, lit. 'The White Rose'), 1854. Transl. by R. Nisbet Bain in 1901, and again under the title The White Rose by T. László Palotás in 2023. It was adapted into the 1919 Hungarian silent drama film Fehér rózsa ('White Rose').
The Lion of Janina (Hungarian: Janicsárok végnapjai, lit. 'The End Days of the Janissaries'), 1854. Transl. by R. Nisbet Bain in 1897 and again under the title The Last Days of the Janissaries by T. László Palotás in 2023.
The Day of Wrath (Hungarian: Szomorú napok, lit. 'Sad Days'), 1848–1856. Transl. by R. Nisbet Bain in 1900.
Poor Plutocrats (Hungarian: Szegény gazdagok, lit. 'The Poor Rich'), 1860. Transl. by R. Nisbet Bain, 1899)
The New Landlord (Hungarian: Az új földesúr, lit. 'The New Feudal Lord'), 1863. Transl. by Arthur J. Patterson in 1868.
Debts of Honor (Hungarian: Mire megvénülünk, lit. 'By the Time We Grow Old'), 1865. Transl. by Arthur Yolland in 1900.
The Baron's Sons (Hungarian: A kőszívű ember fiai, lit. 'The Sons of the Stone-Hearted Man'), 1869. Transl. by Percy Favor Bicknell in 1900 and adapted into an 1965 Hungarian film [hu].
Black Diamonds (Hungarian: Fekete gyémántok), 1870. Transl. by Frances Gerald in 1896.
Manasseh. A Romance of Transylvania (Hungarian: Egy az Isten, lit. 'One is God'), 1876. Transl. by Percy Favor Bicknell in 1901.
The Nameless Castle (Hungarian: Névtelen vár), 1877. Transl. by Sarah Elisabeth Boggs in 1898.
Pretty Michal (Hungarian: Szép Mikhál), 1877. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain in 1891.
The Strange Story of Ráby (Hungarian: Rab Ráby, lit. 'Ráby the Prisoner'), 1879. Transl. by anonymous in 1909.
Told by the Death's Head (Hungarian: Egy hírhedett kalandor a 17. századból, lit. 'An Infamous Adventurer from the 17th Cenutry'), 1879. Transl. by Sarah Elisabeth Boggs in 1903.
The Green Book (Hungarian: Szabadság a hó alatt, vagy a Zöld könyv, lit. 'Freedom under the Snow, or the Green Book'), 1897. Transl. by Ellis Wright, Mrs Waugh in 1897.
Peter the Priest (Hungarian: Páter Péter, lit. 'Father Peter'), 1881. Transl. by S. L. Waite and A. L. Waite in 1897.
Eyes Like the Sea (Hungarian: A tengerszemű hölgy, lit. 'The Lady with See-Eyes'), 1890. Transl. by R. Nisbet Bain in 1893.
Dr. Dumány's Wife (Hungarian: Nincsen ördög, lit. 'There is No Devil'), 1891. Transl. by Frances Steinitz in 1891.
The Yellow Rose (Hungarian: Sárga rózsa, lit. 'Yellow Rose'), 1893. Transl. by Beatrice Danford in 1909.
Maurus Jókai’s novels in English translation (in Hungarian but with an abstract in English at the end) by Judit Kádár (inIrodalomtörténeti Közlemények "Bulletins in Literary History")
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Jókai, Maurus". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
