Space and Time, Frozen

Térey János: A Legkisebb Jégkorszak

Abstract

The study interprets János Térey’s work A Legkisebb Jégkorszak (The Smallest Ice Age, 2015) by examining the treatment of space and time in relation to the poetic techniques used to depict societal conditions. The formally experimental and ambitious verse novel was one of the initiators of an epic trend in Hungarian literature that aims to depict the contemporary social environment, focusing on current social and political issues. The Smallest Ice Age examines Hungarian society, primarily the lives of the residents of Svábhegy, in a crisis and borderline situation, during and after a natural disaster. The paper argues that the fundamental tools used by Térey’s novel to represent society (focusing on the mental and social well-being of individuals, families, cities, and the country) are the unique poetic devices of space and time, as well as a set of formal techniques: narrative games and metalepsis (that inventively rethink genre conventions), the occasional use of genre patterns, and metrical and poetic diversity. Through the dialectic of chaos and harmony, the formal characteristics of the novel depict the state of society and the changes taking place.