Az angol irodalom története. I: A középkor. [The history of English literature. The Middle Ages], edited by Tamás Karáth and Katalin Halácsy, Kijárat, Budapest, 2020.

Abstract

In the age where Wikipedia, big data, and ever-improving AI seem to make knowledge accessible at the click of a button, one might question the relevance of a traditional, paper-based literary history. This very issue is addressed in the editorial introduction to the first volume of the new Hungarian History of English Literature, a seven-volume project originally conceived by the late Géza Kállay and now carried forward under the general editorship of Tamás Bényei. While Bényei attempts to answer this query in the preface, it is through the content of the first volume, dedicated to medieval English literature, co-edited by Tamás Karáth and Katalin Halácsy, that we find a more nuanced and persuasive justification for such an enterprise.