regény

Regény, in Hungarian usage, is the long fictional prose narrative known in English as the novel. A regény presents a structured plot, developed characters, and a created setting, usually in prose and divided into chapters. Its length allows for complex exploration of motives, social contexts, and moral questions, often across multiple settings and time periods.

The form emerged in Europe during the early modern period and was adopted and adapted in Hungarian literature, where it gained prominence in the 19th century as national literature expanded and diversified. The regény became a central vehicle for social and cultural reflection, with authors drawing on historical, realist, and contemporary themes to address the ambitions and tensions of their societies.

Pioneering Hungarian regény writers include Mór Jókai and Mikszáth Kálmán; later, Sándor Márai and Dezső Kosztolányi expanded the scope and experimentation of the form. Subgenres include historical novels, social or realist novels, psychological novels, and, in the 20th century, modernist and experimental works. The regény can adopt various narrative voices, from third-person narration to first-person perspectives, and it may blend genres or incorporate documentary or metafictional elements.

In contemporary usage, the regény remains a flexible and evolving form, produced for traditional print audiences and increasingly for digital platforms. It remains a primary means of exploring personal and collective experience, cultural memory, and social change through extended, immersive storytelling.