The following section describes the collected sources dedicated to analysing, interpreting and explaining the life and the literary work of Sándor Márai. They are principally composed of conference presentations, book chapters, articles, dissertations, and books, as shown in the next graph.
We have identified 263 publications found in international catalogues of universities, library networks, institutions and bibliographic databases outside Hungary.19
Figure 1 Type of publications on Márai
Source: Own creation from data collected (2021)
19 Principally in: WorldCat Identities, SmartCat, Open Library, Google Scholar, The Central and Eastern European Online Library, Research Gate, Academia.edu, and university catalogues.
Type of Publica�on On Márai
Collective scholarly practices are the most common method of disseminating knowledge of the literary work and life of Sándor Márai. That involves books and conferences on a shared subject, collecting different chapters and presentations by diverse authors.
According to the data collected, 62.2% of the specialised field corresponds to Literary Studies, 14.3% to Philosophy, and 3.5% to Literary Criticism and Literature, History 2.7%, and Psychoanalysis 2.3%. The approaches towards Márai have mainly come from the disciplines that have literature as their primary research object (see next chart).
22
4 3 6 4 7 9 9 9 37
161 Publica�ons per field
Museology 1.5%Various 1.5%Psychoanalysis 2.3%History 2.7%Biogryphy 3.5%Cri�cism 3.5%Literature 3.5%Philosophy 14.3%
62.2%
Literary Studies
Figure 2 Publications on Márai per field
Source: Own creation from data collected (2021)
It is well-known that Literary fields comprise the majority of the approaches that have subjected Márai’s output to analysis. The data aggregated per group of disciplines show that Literary fields (literary studies, criticism, literature) make up 69.2% and Human Sciences (Philosophy, History, Psychoanalysis, Biography, and Political Sciences) 24.2%
of the total. Other fields, such as Medicine, Museology, Translation, Journalism and Theatre cover 7%.
Spanish (30.8%), English (21.7%), and French (20.2%) are most used to spread knowledge of Márai, followed by Italian (19.4%), and German (4.6%). The reproduction of analytical knowledge has spread through two of the most spoken languages in the world, reaching wider audiences.
Portuguese
Figure 3 Languages of Publications on Márai Source: Own creation from data collected (2021)
The next chart shows the publication curve per year. The gap between 1949 and the posthumous reaction in 1990 should be noted. This academic silence coincides with the beginning of his exile (1948), a period of isolation. Besides Hungarian, only German publishers continued publishing throughout the fifties, at least one book per year, then one in the sixties, and one in the seventies, finishing, in 1978, the time of publication in exile, with Sindbad Geht Heim (Nova, Hamburg). After his death, Editions Albin Michel in Paris, published La Conversation de Bolzano in 1992 and Les Confessions d’un Bourgeois (1993), which we can be considered as a breakthrough in the Márai editorial phenomenon in Europe and the world.
1946 1949 1990 1996 1998 2000 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Figure 4 Number of Publications on Márai per Year Source: Own creation from data collected (2021)
The diversity of the authors’ nationalities confirms the impact that the oeuvre of Sándor Márai has had in the occidental hemisphere. Here is shown, on one hand, an analysis of the academicians’ and intellectuals’ nationality and its effects on the knowledge production and, on the other, the geographical distribution of the publications in order to recognise the academic reception per country.
Hungarian scholars are definitely the most active researchers in spreading their knowledge of one of their most famous fellow countrymen abroad in different languages. (See next chart.)
Hungarian
Figure 5 Authors’ Nationality and Languages Used per Number of Publications Source: Own creation from data collected (2021)
It shows the astonishing diversity of languages in which Hungarian-authored works have been published. At the same time, the graphic displays the most common countries of origin of authors among the other nationalities. Colombians occupy second place with 44 publications. All of them are published in Spanish besides one dissertation in French.
Most of those works are in collections of articles and conference papers delivered in 2008 and 2009, principally motivated by the research group Tiempo Cero, described later in this paper.
Concerning the geographical concentration of the publications, it sometimes does not directly relate to the author’s ori-gin; Hungarian authors, for instance, published in seven languages in nine countries. Therefore, the geo-chart shows only the countries where the work was published, to understand the geographical phenomenon of scientific dissemination.
N°
Figure 6 Geo-Chart of number of publications per country Source: Own creation from data collected (2021)
All in all, the data described above displays the numeric trends in the academic approaches to Sándor Márai outside Hungary. It shows the key countries that have an interest in publishing academic works on him.
The timeline shows that the publication curve increased dramatically after 2003, reaching its peak in 2012–2013. After-ward, the curve decreases, but it should be seen as an unbroken line of publications. The annual publication average, between 2003 and 2020, reaches 9.6 scholarly texts from different disciplines and countries. At least four academic works have been published every year, for the last six years.
It shows, on one hand, that the literature of Sándor Márai has things to say to the present day, that his thoughts and meditations are contemporary with the ongoing discussions in academia. On the other hand, scholarly interest of in rediscovering more facts of Márai’s life and work did not decrease since the editorial industry took an interest in pub-lishing his books after he committed suicide. This constant scholarly activity on Sándor Márai establishes his books as a relevant source for understanding current issues.