Mór Jókai

Liberalism and republicanism 1825–1904 ○ Natural causes

Hungarian novelist, one of the leaders of the outbreak of the 1848 revolution in Pest, who later chronicled it in The Heartless Man's Sons

Born in 1825 at Komárom into an ancient noble family, he met Petőfi at the Calvinist college of Pápa, practised briefly as a lawyer and turned to literature. Moving to Pest in 1845, he made his name with his first novel, and in 1847 he became editor of the literary magazine Életképek. He was one of the leaders of the outbreak of the revolution in Pest in 1848. A moderate liberal who opposed excesses, he was won over by the victories of spring 1849 to support the deposition of the Habsburgs; present at the surrender at Világos, he escaped on foot through the Russian lines to Pest with the help of his wife, Róza Laborfalvi. He went on to write a vast body of fiction, including The Heartless Man's Sons, a chronicle of 1848. After 1867 he sat in parliament for more than twenty years, was appointed to the Upper House in 1897, and died in Budapest in 1904.

Also known as: Maurus Jókai · Maurice Jókai · Mor Jokai