Wandering Home Educators Turned Influential Journalists: The Role of Learning and Teaching in the early Careers of Max Nordau and József Kiss

Abstract

The Budapest-born and subsequently acclaimed writer, journalist, doctor, cultural critic, and later Zionist, Max Nordau (1849, Pest – 1923, Paris), along with the poet, publisher, precursor of Nyugat, and editor of A Hét, József Kiss (1843–1921), established their friendship in 1865, and despite the geographical distance, it endured until the end of their lives. At the age of 19, Kiss took up the role of a wandering home teacher, seeking his livelihood in villages on the Great Hungarian Plain, with minimal formal training prior to that. In contrast, Nordau, already a young teenager, published German-language theater critiques and poems; at 16, he translated works for the publisher house Deutsch Testvérek and, following his graduation, secured employment at Pester Lloyd, the most prestigious German-language newspaper in Pest, under the direction of Falk Miksa. Officially a student of the Calvinist Gymnasium, due to his family's financial situation, he also had to work as a private tutor for a period. However, he did not abandon formal education; he later enrolled in the medical faculty of the University of Pest, where he successfully completed his studies while working as a foreign correspondent for several years. Nordau, who had already "made a name for himself" as a high school student regularly publishing in Pest's newspapers, guided and instructed his older, yet unknown friend through numerous letters on the path to literary and journalistic success. In my study, I not only examine the development of their relationship but also explore the influences that impacted Nordau during his public education, enabling him to thrive in various cultural and linguistic environments, providing insight into his intellectual superiority over Kiss.