MODERN LITERATORE No task is more ditlicuit for the historian or critic than to estimate his con temporaries rightly. From what point is he to gain a true perspective, for even to take a photograph he must sta nd at a certain distan ce from his subj ect ? How can his judgme nt have the necessary obj ectivity and ho w is he to overcome the distorting influ ence of so cial relations ? But although it is ditlicu it for a mao to judge his contem poraries individually, it is easier and even more important to characterise the general tendency of modern literature. Literatore cannot boast to-day such giant-like figures as Vörösmarty, Petőfi and Arany. _ The golden age of Hun gar ian literatore has been followed by a period of com parative mediocrity, and the great talent and lofty inspira tion which marked the time of the national revival (1825- 1 849) are lacking, but as in all such periods, the last of the late classi cs became the model for succeeding writers. This was Arany, whose style exercised an unbounded in fluence, though in the matter of the tech nique of versifica tion there has been a decided advance upon that attained during the great age. A conspicuous feature of modern literatore is the absence of the popular element. Hungarian poetry reached its greatest height in the sublimatien of the popular poetry. Petőfi, Tompa and Arany were rooted in the soil of the popular tales and ballads, but it would seem as if that soil were exhausted, at least for the time being. The popular play does not seem to be receíved either, and literato re scarcely turns its eyes to the past at ali. In both epic and draroatic poetry modern soc iety occu pies the field more and more exclusively. The heroic epic, cultivated by Vörösmarty and Arany, has entirely go ne out of fashion. Dramatists, with the exception of a few talented men ·tike
