Priests, Pastors, and Power: The Corruption of Clergy in Novels by Zsigmond Móricz and Ludwig Thoma

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
The novel A fáklya written by Zsigmond Móricz in 1917, and Ludwig Thoma’s novel Andreas Vöst penned in 1906, both portray the influence of modernity on the role played by clergy in rural society – Móricz in Hungary, Thoma in Bavaria. In these regions of Central Europe, religious authorities played critical roles as moral arbiters of social values, celebrants of key milestones in individual and family life, and powerful liaisons between the individual and the state. Clergy played an often determining role in constituting community and individual identity given the demand that the members of rural society collectively ascribe to and participate in a common faith. Yet as both Móricz and Thoma emphasize, while pastors and priests may represent presumably absolute moral and religious values, they also succumbed to the modern forces of status, commodification, and materialism, and were consequently subjected to the corrupting influences of these forces. In both narratives, the religious leader of the community bears direct responsibility for social, moral, and physical harm. My paper will explore the connections between religious authority on the one hand, and secular corruption and individual moral failing on the other, in order to analyze the role of religious authorities in exacerbating the social ennui that accompanied the forces of modernity in rural Hungary and Bavaria as seen in these narratives. My comparison will show that the corrupting influence of these fictional religious authorities exemplified a phenomenon that affected Europe generally as it transitioned from a feudal to a modern economy and society.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Professor of German at Northern State University. My books and articles deal with modern narrative in Germany, Hungary, and global realism. I have translated several novels by Zsigmond Móricz into English, as well as a collection of stories by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. My research currently centers on the novels of Zsigmond Móricz and Germans-from-Russia studies.