Author Topic: Bella Jokai  (Read 6897 times)

Offline Ant14

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Re: Bella Jokai
« Reply #9 on: Wednesday 16 July 14 20:16 BST (UK) »
Hi. You were asking information about Bella Jokai

Offline Roy G

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Re: Bella Jokai
« Reply #10 on: Wednesday 16 July 14 21:51 BST (UK) »
You are right, it was me who was asking a while ago.  What's your interest?
Roy G

Offline Ant14

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Re: Bella Jokai
« Reply #11 on: Wednesday 16 July 14 22:11 BST (UK) »
I had a connection with her brother Louis Nagy years ago.  What is your connection?

Offline Roy G

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Re: Bella Jokai
« Reply #12 on: Thursday 17 July 14 04:53 BST (UK) »
No family connection whatsoever, but a prominent author here in in Hungary just wrote in a biography about the couple, that she died in London.  'London' also appears as her place of death in Wikipedia. As you may gather, London is a very broard and woolly statement at the best of times and it was that that motivated me to be more specific and find out exactly where.  The responses I subsequently got from this and other websites, added an interesting extension to the published accounts of their lives. 
Regards Roy G


Offline Ant14

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Re: Bella Jokai
« Reply #13 on: Thursday 17 July 14 06:53 BST (UK) »
Hi Roy,  She moved to London as they said, but as a previous reply stated the family moved to Chesham,  Manor Lodge, soon after I believe.  This I think was about 1938-9 when they moved to Chesham Im not sure of the exact  date they left Hungary.   

Offline Roy G

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Re: Bella Jokai
« Reply #14 on: Thursday 17 July 14 11:02 BST (UK) »
I am also led to believe she left Hungary around that time.  She being so young and he having been so elderly, there was a lot of bitchyness from some of the more senior members of the family who were angling for the entire or a portion of the estate. Her financial support was no problem though for she also held all the publishing rights to her late husband's popular works and published other works besides.    Regards Roy G

Offline Ant14

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Re: Bella Jokai
« Reply #15 on: Thursday 17 July 14 21:36 BST (UK) »
Hi Roy, Yes she would have been 59 if she came to England in 1938, her brother certainly came then.
She did not come from a poor family anyway, as her brother although stated as a journalist was in fact a barrister. I knew him personally. I would be interested to read the book about Jokai. I have been to Budapest to see the statue to Jokai out of interest , but understand there is a house which is a memorial to him Is there one in Budapest.

Offline Roy G

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Re: Bella Jokai
« Reply #16 on: Friday 18 July 14 07:01 BST (UK) »
A villa which is a museum to him is not in Budapest, it is near lake Balaton in the town of  Balatonfured.  Rootschat tries to avoid 'chatters' adding links, so you may find the following translated abstract from museum's text informative.

Jókai Commemorative Museum
Móric Ásvai Jókay (Révkomárom, February 18, 1825 – Budapest, May 5, 1904), a member of the Hungarian Academy of Science, was the son of József Jókay (lawyer) and Mária Pulay. He studied in Komárom, Bratislava and graduated from secondary grammar school in Pápa. He made friends with Sándor Petőfi (one of the greatest Hungarian poets in the 19th century, a key player of the March Revolution in 1848) at the meetings of the autodidactic circle: Petőfi encouraged him to publish his first short stories. He graduated from law school in Kecskemét and practiced as a lawyer in Pest. After the success of his first novel entitled Hétköznapok (Weekdays) in 1844 he dedicated his life to writing. He was an influential figure in the Reform Age. He changed the y in his surname to i after March 15, 1848 to indicate that he did not want to take advantage of his privileges granted by his noble birth. He actively participated in the 1848-49 War of Independence. He took part in the drafting of the 12 articles. He was a national guard and the editor of the government’s paper.

He met his wife, Róza Laborfalvi at the theatre on March 15, 1848. She played the role of Queen Gertrudis in Bánk Bán and pinned a cockade on Jókai’s jacket. Jókai married the celebrated actress, who was eight years older than him on August 29, 1848. After the fall of the revolution he was forced to hide. In 1849 he was pardoned partly due to his wife’s intervention and took up writing. He was the most productive and popular as a writer in the 1850s. He became a member of the Academy in 1858. He launched various newspapers and humour magazines. He was sentenced to one year in prison for violating press in a leading article.

He first visited Füred in 1857 and he spent his holidays there in subsequent years with his wife, actress Róza Laborfalvi. Róza’s younger sister, Jozefa married István Huray, a doctor in 1865. His villa can be found at 2 Blaha Lujza street. Mór Jókai purchased the plot near Huray villa in 1867 and the eclectic villa with two closed verandas and six rooms was built in 1870.  Róza Laborfalvi died in 1886 and the writer stayed away from Füred for many years. He sold the villa to János Michelini, a grain merchant in 1889.

In 1894 a collection of 100 books by the writer was published in a de luxe edition and he was appointed honorary doctor at the Royal Hungarian University of Science in Budapest. In 1899 he married Bella Nagy, 20 years old at the time causing considerable scandal. The couple was not disturbed and lived happily. The grandson of Jókai’s brother Miklós Jókai-Ihász repurchased the villa in 1908 and it was owned by the family until 1950 when state control was assumed. On the 50th anniversary of the writer’s death in 1954 the Jókai commemorative museum was opened, the only one so far. It was reconstructed in 2009.

Information
Address: Honvéd u. 1.
Opening hours: V.1-X.15.: 10-18h


Regards Roy G

Offline Ant14

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Re: Bella Jokai
« Reply #17 on: Friday 18 July 14 10:19 BST (UK) »
Thats great info thanks. They were a very interesting couple as I said although critised for money grabbing she was not without money herself but the family left everything when they  left Hungary for Uk and had to start again They had substatial property and belongings in Budapest and it was all left behind in 1938.  . Also I think it was very much more common for younger women to marry much older men in that time. I am trying to do a chart of their families so any info would be a bonus