Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/138

 124 HUNGARIAN LITERATORE years after the publication of his finest drama, an d nobody knew that the country had lost in him her greatest tragic dramatist. Katona's play of Bdnk ban (the ba nus or palatine Bánk) is a tragedy of the finest type, and its reception was due to certain curious coincidences.• The censor forbade its prodoction on the s1 age because it dealt with the murder of a queen, a dangerous example for subj ects. Not long before, a queen had actually been killed, Marie Antoinette, a relative of the Austrian Emperor. Thus the stage was elosed to Katona's tragedy. But there was anoth ei circu msta nce which miti­ gated agai nst its success. Th e cha:racter of the play was oppose.d to the general tendency and taste of the times. It was an age which liked the polished and graceful in literat ure, and its taste was not satisfied by the rigidly majestic character of the tragedy. Though the patriotic element in it was likely to appeal powerfully to the public, its overpowering tragical element was not duly understood and appreciated. Katona's language displays remarkable force and terseness, but he paid no heed to the i nnova­ tions pf the language reformers, and that fact made an unfavo urable impression upon his critics. And finally we may mention one other circu mstance that had its im­ portance for bim, as for ali other authors. Katona did not belong to any literary group or clique, and conse­ quently remained isolated. Th e historical event which supplied Katona with his and they were found strikingly similar to the Shakespearean plays. Katona's greatness lay in his power of analysis, which enabled bim to portray faithfully the growth of the passions. His pietore of the tragical development of the soul of Bánk, leading to the inevitable explosion, with its ruinous recoil, will ever remain a masterpiece of dramatic poetry.
 * John Arany translated a few scenes of the play into English,