The Simon Editions Kra publishing house, based in Paris, launched a series in the late 1920s concerning the literary history of various nations, titled Panoramas des Littérature Contemporaines. Preceding Scandinavian and Balkan literatures, the Hungarian literary history was published in May 1930 in French, with the above mentioned title, written by two authors from Debrecen, professor János Hankiss and secondary school teacher Géza Juhász. The volume managed to attract and keep up the interest of the national literary public for over half a year; forty reviews, reports, debates and corresponding articles were produced in response. Among the authors were Mihály Babits, György Bálint, Pál Ignotus, Attila József, Sándor Márai, etc. Two other teachers from Debrecen, László Kardos and Pál Kardos published their views on the 348-page volume in a 24-page separate booklet in Debreceni Szemle. The authors began with the explanation of the book’s content-editorial principles, emphasising that the book is only a panoramic overview, thus it is “not a report on the contemporary Hungarian literary hierarchy and its inner merits, but merely aims to attract interest in Hungarian literature”. The debates around the Panoramas reflect the divided nature of the contemporary Hungarian over-politicising intellectual life: the liberal and left-wing papers criticise the volume for satisfying course demands and for its anti-Semitism, which they despise, right-wing papers, on the other hand, appraise the work.