About the Journal

 

Mission statement

The journal Irodalomtörténeti Közlemények (‘Publications on the History of Literature’) was launched in 1891 as the journal of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Literary History. Since 1956 it has been the journal of the Institute for Literary History (from 1969 onwards the Institute for Literary Studies) of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and since 2019 the Institute for Literary Studies of the Research Centre for the Humanities.

The journal’s task is to publish new results in the field of Hungarian literary history, to follow the history of Hungarian literature from its beginnings until the second half of the 20th century, but it does not exclude the presentation of new methodological endeavours, research directions and the analysis of certain questions of literary theory. There is also space for papers on major issues in the history of culture.

Traditionally, three literary historical periods can be identified as the main focus of interest covered in the publications: old Hungarian literature; the Enlightenment and the Reform Era; and literature from 1849 through the mid-20th century. For a long time, these three large units have been almost exactly equal in the thematic proportions of the journal. We do not plan to shift these emphases substantially, but we do plan to shift them subtly in the course of our work. Within the rubric of old Hungarian literature, we would like to increase the number of publications dealing with pre-17th century literature in proportion to the total number of publications, with special mention of our efforts to increase the presence of medieval studies. While there is an abundant selection of medieval journals abroad, and Hungarian researchers publish in them, there is no such journal in Hungary, and therefore research of domestic interest which represents modern methodological principles remain hidden from the wider professional public in Hungary. The number and proportion of publications on the literature of the second half of the 20th century has increased somewhat in recent years. In this respect, we aim for a further modest increase, with a particular focus on the study of literary careers that have been completed and are considered to be of outstanding importance, and on the analysis of contemporary works of outstanding content or formal merit. There is no doubt, however, that for scholars of modern Hungarian literature there is a plethora of literary, cultural, literary studies and literary history journals which offer publication opportunities, while for old and classical literature, the ItK is the focal journal and should be preserved as such.

Only very rarely does a real dialogue develop between scholars of old and classical literature and representatives of new approaches to literary studies. This is not least because scholars of the older periods tend to apply traditional textological-philological methods, while modern and postmodern literature is generally approached using contemporary literary studies methods. In fact, however, a number of studies dealing with the problems of ancient and classical literature have been productively analyzed in recent years using the most modern hermeneutics and recently developed methodologies. It is a well-known international phenomenon in the development of new theoretical paradigms that they can demonstrate their potential on the basis of older works. In Hungary, this demonstration has not been given sufficient voice, even though these writings have offered much methodological orientation, reflection, interest and experience. It is therefore necessary and possible to publish in ItK a group of theoretical articles that shed light on the actual relationship between modern literary strategies and the methods and approaches used in the study of old and classical literature. This deepening of the capacity for dialogue will make it clearer to the literary public that the way of examining the subject of the history of classical literature, breaking with the application of scholastic methods, is one of the best traditions of ItK, which has been going on for decades.

To achieve these goals, we would like to ask for your support. We respectfully invite you to contact our editorial office with your own studies and with articles by your colleagues and talented students that you consider worthy of publication. We would be honoured to hear your views on the articles published in our journal from time to time and to receive your suggestions and ideas on our editorial principles. All this would be of great help to us in our endeavour to ensure that the journal we edit covers the subjects and problems of greatest scientific interest, while providing up-to-date guidance on current and important issues of perspective and methodology.

 

From the history of Irodalomtörténeti Közlemények

The editors of ItK since 1891

1891–1947: journal of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Literary History

  • 1891–1892: BALLAGI Aladár
  • 1893–1913: SZILÁDY Áron
  • 1914–1939: CSÁSZÁR Elemér
  • 1940–1947: KÉKY Lajos

1948–1952: pretermitted

1953–1955: journal of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ Standing Committee on Literary History

  • 1953–1955: TOLNAI Gábor senior editor

1956–1962: journal of the Hungarian Academy of Science’s Institute for Literary History

1963–1968: journal of the Hungarian Academy of Science’s Institute for Literary History and the Hungarian Society for Literary History

since 1969: journal of the Hungarian Academy of Science’s Institute for Literary Studies (since 2012 the Hungarian Academy of Science’s Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute for Literary Studies; since 2019 the Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute for Literary Studies)

  • 1969–1970: SZAUDER József senior editor, NÉMETH G. Béla
  • 1971–1976: SZAUDER József editor-in-chief, KOMLOVSZKI Tibor senior editor, NÉMETH G. Béla co-editor
  • 1977–1980: KLANICZAY Tibor editor-in-chief, KOMLOVSZKI Tibor senior editor, NÉMETH G. Béla co-editor
  • 1981–1985: BÍRÓ Ferenc editor-in-chief, KOMLOVSZKI Tibor senior editor
  • 1986–1992: KOMLOVSZKI Tibor senior editor
  • 1993–1994: KŐSZEGHY Péter senior editor
  • 1994–1996/4: KOMLOVSZKI Tibor senior editor
  • 1996/5-6–2012: SZÖRÉNYI László editor-in-chief, KECSKEMÉTI Gábor senior editor
  • 2013–2022/2: KECSKEMÉTI Gábor editor-in-chief, CSÖRSZ Rumen István senior editor
  • 2022/3-tól: KECSKEMÉTI Gábor editor-in-chief, DRASKÓCZY Eszter senior editor

 

The ItK Editorial Committee members since 1953

* current Editorial Committee members highlighted

* BALÁZS Mihály since 1996
BÁN Imre 1955–1957
BARÓTI Dezső 1955–1956
BARTA János 1953–1955, 1963–1973
BÉLÁDI Miklós 1969/4
* BENE Sándor since 2020
BÍRÓ Ferenc 1974–2024
* BITSKEY István since 1996
BÓKA László 1953–1955
CZINE Mihály 1968–1973
* CSÁSZTVAY Tünde since 1996
* CSÖRSZ Rumen István since 2013
* DÁVIDHÁZI Péter since 1981
DÉRCZY Péter 1991/2
* DRASKÓCZY Eszter since 2022
ECKHARDT Sándor 1955–1957
ERDŐDY Edit 1996–2010
HORVÁTH Iván 1981–1996
HORVÁTH Károly 1958–1960
KARDOS Tibor 1953–1955
* KECSKEMÉTI Gábor since 1996
KIRÁLY István 1959–1973
KISS Ferenc 1971–1991
KLANICZAY Tibor 1959–1973, 1977–1980
KOMLOVSZKI Tibor 1968–1996
* KŐSZEGHY Péter since 1993
KULCSÁR Péter 1981–2012
NAGY Péter 1955–1957
NÉMETH G. Béla 1965–1980
RÁBA György 1970/1
SOMOGYI Sándor 1965–1967
SŐTÉR István 1959–1967
SZABÓ G. Zoltán 1986–1991
SZAUDER József 1953–1955, 1963–1975
* SZÖRÉNYI László since 1996
TAMÁS Attila 1986–1991
TARNAI Andor 1969–1994
TOLNAI Gábor 1953–1957, 1959–1973
TURÓCZI-TROSTLER József 1953–1955
* TVERDOTA György since 1977
V. KOVÁCS Sándor 1971–1973
VARGA József 1961–1962, 1965–1980
VERES András 1977–1996
* VIZKELETY András since 1996