One of the most important Hungarian prose writers in the twentieth century, Móricz was the first to give a literary voice to the impoverished peasants of his homeland. The publication of his novella
Hét krajczár[
Seven Pennies] in 1908 established his reputation as a keen and passionate observer of Hungary’s poorest citizens and the wasted human potential resulting from society’s neglect of them. His groundbreaking peasant narratives are complemented by novels that reveal the self-serving decadence of the gentry.
Móricz was born in 1879 in the eastern Hungarian village of Tiszacsécse as the first of nine children. His father, Bálint Móricz, was a hard-working, ambitious peasant who farmed a small plot of some five acres, and his mother, Erzsébet Pallagi, was the daughter of an
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Citation: Lewis, Virginia L.. "Zsigmond Móricz". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 July 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13537, accessed 23 November 2024.]
