The main aim of the work is to present emblematics in Hungary in its European context, and to show the reciprocal influence between that phenomenon and mainstream literature. The description of the theoretical and historical development in Hungary is supplemented by a series of case studies examining the effect of emblematics upon various literary genres. The final chapter analyzes the link between literary emblematics and the visual arts by looking at a specific example. As in most European countries, emblematics in Hungary is part of a complex labyrinth of literary modes of thought and expression. A relative poverty of theoretical writing went hand in hand with a considerable range of emblematic practice. The emblem proved to be a transitional form between the period when signs and motifs were regarded as having specific and fixed meanings and the modern period when we have developed a different and shifting concept of language and meaning. At the same time as emblems began to penetrate the more popular levels of national culture and literature, they also became more specialized. Hungarian emblematics used, for the most part, existing pictorial and textual combinations of pictures and texts. They employed the emblem notably in genres and texts of the genus demonstrativum, which referred to matters which were topical at the time.

Miklos ZrA-nyi the Elder (died 1566) and his great-grandson and namesake (died 1664), the general, politician, poet and educated man of the world, are the topics of this work, not only as great names in Hungarian history but also as European figures of inestimable charisma. Numerous texts from the culture of the Old Reich bear witness to thisa ' reports, poems, flyers, sermons, stories, novels - and also dramas such as Theodor KArnera (TM)s tragedy. These proceedings of an international conference document the exact state of research and provide a wide-reaching reconstruction of the foundations, forms, stages and perspectives of this reputation, concentrating on accessing known and unknown works from German literature.

This monograph on the life and work of Johannes NAdasi (1614-1679) begins with a historical outline of the literary genre he represented and also presents a study of the history of the impact of his work. NAdasi was a prolific representative of moral meditative literature and was widely read throughout Europe in the 17th century. A comparative examination of the texts (most of them in Latin) highlights the questions posed by the relations between New Latin and national literature, 'religious' and 'secular' culture, literature and ideology. The volume closes with a bibliography of the works discussed and the editions they have been through.