On the Genre Context of Letters from Turkey by Kelemen Mikes

Translated into several languages, Kelemen Mikes’ Letters from Turkey is one of the masterpieces of 18th-century Hungarian literature. This paper explores genre-historical contexts of the Letters, with particular regard to French epistolary works published between about 1620 and 1720. The paper distinguishes five main types of the literary use of the epistolary form: 1) editions of letters missives; 2) epistolary theories and manuals of letter writing; 3) fictional or partially fictional letter collections and letter series; 4) letters in the novel; 5) epistolary novels. The paper argues that the French epistolary tradition emerging at the same time as the Letters from Turkey or earlier was much more complex than Hungarian research has so far assumed. This epistolary culture is one of the primary genre contexts for Letters from Turkey. It appears that Mikes must have had knowledge of epistolary manuals and florilegies that were used for learning the French language, and often included letters and phrases applicable in letter writing as well. In the French source material, we find several examples of the defining features of Mikes’ work: fictional or semi-fictional collections of letters based on one voice, a direct, chatty tone, epistolary turns of gallantry, fictionalization of the addressee, and the depiction of the situation of exile. There is a wide range of literary devices that give the appearance of real correspondence, many which were used by Mikes.