A megszállottság rendje
The Order of Obsession

Summary/Abstract: This study examines A nyomorék naplója (The Diary of the Crippled Man), an early and relatively understudied short story by Mór Jókai (1825–1904), one of the foremost Hungarian prose writers of the 19th century. Following a poetics-centered analysis of the text, which employs the traditional device and fictional implications of the frame narrative, the paper investigates whether this work may have influenced A hóhér kötele (The Hangman’s Rope), the sole novel written by Sándor Petőfi (1823–1849), as Jókai retrospectively suggested in one of his fictional writings. The analysis identifies clear structural and typological connections between the two texts; however, it argues that Petőfi’s novel significantly radicalizes Jókai’s narrative concept, and by dispensing with the framing device, the reader is compelled to engage directly with the perspective of an amoral narrator.

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