The Life-Changing Travels of Loránt Hegedüs

Abstract

The purpose of the study. This study looks at the changing role of travel in the life Loránt Hegedüs (1872–1943). It is part of a larger psychobiography of that important figure whose career spanned the Era of Dualism and the Interwar Period. The purpose of this study is to collect all historical data connected to the travels of Hegedüs that might be usable in writing a psychobiography of him as well as all documents that can help us understand his view of the world. Applied methods. The sources used include published and unpublished memoirs; published descriptions of his travels that Hegedüs wrote for various periodicals; correspondence between that traveling Hegedüs and various family members, professors, colleagues, and friends; as well as official accounts of travels that he undertook as part of his professional duties. Besides these. the paper will make use of sections in his fictional works whose theme is travel as well as photographs. Outcomes. We conclude that travel, along with other factors, especially his relationship to his godfather, the writer Mór Jókai, helped make the widely travelled Hegedüs more liberal than his class contemporaries. It also helped him to maintain his mental and physical health under extremely pressured circumstances.