Gyula Illyés

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Gyula Illyés, photo by Bahget Iskander

Gyula Illyés [ ˈɟulɒ ˈijːeːʃ ] (actually Gyula Illés ; born November 2, 1902 in Felső-Rácegrespuszta, Austria-Hungary ; † April 15, 1983 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian writer , poet , translator and editor .

Illyés was a Kossuth Prize winner and a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences . He is also a posthumous member of the "Digital Literature Academy" (Digitális Irodalmi Akadémia) founded in 1998 .

Life

His father János Illés (1870–1931) was a farm machinist, his mother's name was Ida Kállay (* 1878; † 1931). Gyula Illyés was born the third child after Ferenc and Klára. He spent the first nine years of his life at his birthplace in Tolna County . The first four years of elementary school he attended the Puszta primary school (1908-1912) and continued it after the family moved to Simontornya , where he completed the fifth grade in 1913. He attended grammar school in Dombóvár from 1913 to 1914 , then in Bonyhád until 1916 . That year his parents divorced and he moved with his mother to Budapest , where he attended the Munkácsy Mihály high school until 1917 . At the age of 19 he graduated from commercial school on Izabella utca . From 1918 to 1919 he took part in a school and young workers' movement at Lake Balaton .

In December 1920 his first poem El ne essél, testvér (“You shall not fall, brother”) appeared anonymously in the Népszava (“Voice of the People”), the former newspaper of the Hungarian Social Democratic Party (MSZDP). The following autumn he enrolled as a student in Hungarian and French. Fearing imprisonment for his illegal activities, he fled to Vienna and arrived in Paris via Berlin and a stay in the Rhineland on April 24, 1922 . After doing various odd jobs, he worked in a bookbindery. For some time he was a student at the Sorbonne . In 1923 he published his first articles, the translations Ék ("ornament") and Ma ("today").

As a result of an amnesty, Illyés returned to his homeland three years later. His most frequently used forums were the magazine Dokumentum , published by Lajos Kassák , and later the Munka (“work”). From 1927 to 1930 he worked as a civil servant for an insurance company ( Phőnix Biztosító Társaság ). On November 16, 1927, his first review appeared in Nyugat , where he has regularly published poems and articles since 1928. His first volume, Nehéz föld, was published by the publisher of the same name . Illyés was friends with the poets and writers Attila József , László Németh , Lőrinc Szabó and József Erdélyi .

In 1931 he married the gymnastics teacher Irma Juvancz. Three years later he went on his first long trip to the Soviet Union at the invitation of a writers' congress . From 1934 to 1938 he worked with the Válasz (“Answer”), in 1935 with the Új Szellemi Front (“New Spiritual Front”). On April 15, 1937 he was a co-founder of the Márciusi Front ("March Front") and participated in the publication of the Nyugat in the same year. After divorcing his wife, he married Flóra Kozmutza, with whom in 1940 he had a daughter named Mária. Until 1944 Illyés was press officer of the Hungarian National Bank ( Magyar Nemzeti Bank ) for agricultural deals with France.

After the death of Mihály Babits , he became the editor of Magyar Csillag ("Hungarian Star") on October 1, 1941 , which succeeded Nyugat. From March 1944 he hid with László Németh in Transdanubia and Budapest . In 1945 he was briefly a member of parliament. A year later he became head of the National Peasant Party ( Nemzeti Parasztpárt ) founded in 1939 . From October 1946 to June 1949 he was the editor of Válasz . In 1945 he was admitted to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. However, this status was revoked in 1949, the year the Stalinists came to power under Mátyás Rákosi . Illyés had withdrawn more and more from public life since 1948. On October 31, 1956, during the Hungarian uprising , he was elected to the corps of the Peasant Party, also known as the " Petőfi Party".

Illyés died on April 15, 1983 in Budapest. In 1989 the exclusion from the Academy of Sciences was revised.

Works

Only a few of his works have appeared in German. These are identified in the following list. The other translations in brackets are only analogous and do not refer to existing book titles.

  • Nehéz föld (1928) ("Heavy Earth")
  • Sarjúrendek (1931)
  • Három öreg (1932) ("Three Old")
  • Hősökről beszélnek (1933) ("They talk about heroes")
  • Ifjúság (1934) ("Youth")
  • Oroszország (1934) ("Russia")
  • Szálló egek alatt (1935) ("Hostel under Heaven")
  • Petőfi (1936) ("Petőfi. Ein Lebensbild", published in German translation in 1971)
  • A puszták népe (1936) ("The Pusztavolk. Novel of a Caste", published in German translation in 1947); other German editions, Greno-Verlag, Nördlingen 1985, series Die Andere Bibliothek , and 1999 under the title "Die Puszta" (Suhrkamp-Verlag)
  • Rend a romokban (1937) ("Order in the Ruins")
  • Magyarok (1938) (" Magyars ")
  • Külön világban (1939) ("In Another World")
  • Ki a magyar? (1939) ("Who is the Hungarian?")
  • Lélek és kenyér (1939) ("Soul and Bread")
  • Összegyűjtött versei (1940) ("Collected Poems")
  • Csizma az asztalon (1941) ("Boots on the table")
  • Kora tavasz (1941) ("Springtime")
  • Bartók (1955) (" Bartók ")
  • Hetvenhét magyar népmese ("Seventy-seven Hungarian folk tales")
  • Kháron ladikján, (1969) ("In the boat of Charon or the beautiful old years" 1975 or "In Charons Nachen or getting old in dignity" 1983 in German translation)

Awards

  • Baumgartner Prize 1931, 1933, 1934, 1936
  • Kossuth Prize 1948, 1953, 1970
  • Attila József Prize 1950
  • Le Grand Prix International de Poésie 1966
  • Knokkei Irodalmi Nagydíj 1966 ("Great Knokke Prize for Literature")
  • Tanácsköztársasági Emlékérem 1969 ("Commemorative Medal of the Hungarian Soviet Republic")
  • Herder Prize 1970
  • Batsanyi Prize 1971
  • Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 1971
  • Munka Vörös Zászló Érdemrendje 1972 ("Order of Merit of the Red Flag for Labor")
  • A Magyar Népköztársaság Babérkoszorúval Ékesített Zászlórendje ("Order of the Flag with a Laurel Wreath of the Hungarian People's Republic") 1977
  • Prix ​​des Amitiés Françaises 1978
  • Pro Urbe Pécs 1982
  • A Magyar Népköztársaság Rubinokkal Ékesített Zászlórendje ("Ruby-decorated flag of the Hungarian People's Republic") 1982
  • Membership in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences 1945–1949 and after 1989

See also

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Illyés, Gyula
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Illés, Gyula (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian writer, poet, translator and editor
DATE OF BIRTH November 2, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Felső-Rácegrespuszta
DATE OF DEATH April 15, 1983
Place of death Budapest