HUNGARIAN STUDIES 16. No. 2. Nemzetközi Magyar Filológiai Társaság. Akadémiai Kiadó Budapest [2002]

Samuel J. Wilson: Kossuth, Clausewitz and the Hero's Journey

KOSSUTH, CLAUSEWITZ AND THE HERO'S JOURNEY SAMUEL J. WILSON University of Rio Grande, Rio Grande, OH USA The Hero's Journey is a universal pattern. Although it can be infinitely varied, the basic form is both universal and constant. Kossuth first crossed the threshold when he entered national politics. After his imprisonment for disloyalty and sedition, he emerged as a national martyr and hero. He became and remained a revolutionary. He never reached the resurrection stage, made no compromise, and became a symbol for independence and liberty. Keywords: Hero's journey, tragic hero, mythological figures, resurrection, democ­racy, revolution, compromise, Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence Joseph Campbell, in his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces, states that, "Wherever the poetry of myth is interpreted as biography, history, or science, it is killed."1 Such was the fate of Lajos Kossuth as he traveled Britain and America between 1851 and 1852 in hopes of resuscitating a dead revolution. Here was a person who befits the romantic age in verse, appearance, and sentiment. Like the mythical figures of Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Aeneas, and Beowulf, Kossuth too embarked upon an adventure that mortals must undertake in their lives in order to become heroes. It was no different for Lord Byron earlier in the century: a verita­ble Don Quixote chasing windmills in the southern Balkans. Unfortunately, Kossuth's adventure becomes one of failure because of his unwillingness to ac­cept change and his reluctance to compromise. Kossuth's journey is more than history. It is symbolic like the man himself. It is as poignant as those journeys taken by literary heroes. Historians, for Alexan­der Dumas, simply defend points of view and select heroes who help them in this endeavor. Novelists, however, are impartial, they do not judge, they show.2 Kossuth's life is as metaphoric as Edmond Dantes in Dumas' novel The Count of Monte Cristo, where the hero escapes from his unjust imprisonment to seek re­venge against those responsible for his fate. It is as dramatic as Sir William Wallace and Robert the Bruce in Jane Porter's The Scottish Chiefs, the story of a coura­geous and honorable man and the ideals and country for which he died. Kossuth Hungarian Studies 16/2 (2002) 0236-6568/2002/S5.00 © 2002 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest

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