Killing jokes - Hašek’s and Kafka’s reception in Hungarian literature

Abstract

Despite the fact that Hašek and Kafka lived in the same city, in the same era, and despite the influence each exercised on the course of European literature in the 20th century, reception of their works has gone in absolutely opposite directions. The lecture has two goals: the first is to show the parallel characteristics of the two authors; the second is to elaborate on how these two writers are incorporated into Hungarian literature: Hašek is considered as a representative of Czech humor; Kafka is seen as a writer of a prophetical influence on history.