Hites, Sándor

The history of Hungarian literature provides valuable insights into the ways cultural and political nationalisms have intertwined in semi-peripheral societies. In my research, I explore the interconnections Hungarian and European literatures by focusing on the concept of "world literature" and the symbolic and material factors that influence the circulation of semi-peripheral contributions in the global literary landscape. I am particularly interested in the relationship between economy and literature, such as the impact of economic ideas, instruments, and institutions on our understanding of literary labor and intellectual exchange, the representation of economic themes in literary texts, and the forms of distribution in both symbolic and commercial markets.

• 19th-20th century Hungarian and European literature  
• the political economy of literature
• the geopolitics and symbolic geography of world literature 
• cultural nationalism  
• intellectual and political exile

• 1993–1998 Studies of Hungarian Literature, Linguistics and Philosophy at Eötvös Loránd University Budapest (Hungary)
• 1998 MPhil in Hungarian Language and Literature, Eötvös Loránd University
• 1998–2005 PhD in Literary Studies, Eötvös Loránd University and Universiteit van Amsterdam (the Netherlands)
• 2003–2019 Research Fellow, Institute of Literary Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
• 2006–2009 Bolyai Research Grant, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
• 2012 Visiting Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh (UK)
• 2012–2013 Visiting Professor, Babes-Bolyai University Cluj/Kolozsvár (Romania)
• 2015–2017, 2025–2026 Visiting Professor, Centre for European and Eurasian Studies, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto (Canada)
• 2019–2025 Senior Research Fellow, HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities 
• 2019–2024 Principal Investigator of the Lendület Research Group The Political Economy of Hungarian Literature, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
• 2025–2026 Senior Research Fellow, Eötvös Loránd University Research Centre for the Humanities
• since August 2026 Tenure-track professorship of Hungarian Literature in European Context, Faculty of Philological and Cultural Studies, University of Vienna