Mihály Babits
Mihály Babits von Szentistván [ ˈmihaːj ˈbɒbiʧ ] (also Michael Babits , born November 26, 1883 in Szekszárd ; † August 4, 1941 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian poet, translator and publicist of the Nyugat epoch of Hungarian literature .
Life
From 1901 to 1905 he studied Hungarian, French and Latin philology at the University of Budapest and was particularly interested in the philosophy of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche and his teacher László Négyesy.
After graduation, he worked as a teacher in Szeged (1906–1908), Fogaras (1908–1911), Újpest (1911) and Budapest (1912–1918), as a translator, editor of the Nyugat magazine (1916) and he was with contemporaries like Dezső Kosztolányi center of literary life in Budapest. In 1919, at the time of the Soviet Republic in Hungary, he received a professorship at the University of Budapest, which was withdrawn from him after it was suppressed.
Babits is also one of the most important literary translators in Hungary. Among other things, he translated Sophocles , Goethe , Shakespeare , Wilde and Baudelaire . His most outstanding work is the complete translation of Dante's Divine Comedy into Hungarian.
In 1921 he married Ilona Tanner, who later published poems under the name Sophie Török . In 1923 Babits moved to Esztergom and in 1927 became a member of the Kisfaludy Society . In 1937 he fell ill with throat cancer, after several years of serious illness he died in 1941. With his death, the Nyugat epoch of Hungarian literature ended.
His poetry plays with many styles and variations, but the extremely artistic language sometimes gives way to expressionism when the events touch him deeply, as in the poem Rákospalota 23. Május about the bloody suppression of a workers' demonstration in 1912. His poems against the First World War also have this language. Babits was a radical pacifist.
Above all, his inclination towards Catholicism plays an important role in his work, which was particularly noticeable after the First World War. Pacifism and Catholicism merged into a humanistic attitude in later years. He sees his responsibility and mission as a poet in an admonishing, prophetic role (“because he who remains silent among sinners is to blame”).
In Szekszárd there is a museum dedicated to him in the house where he was born. His hometown also erected two monuments to him.
Works
- Levelek Iris koszorújából, poems 1909 (Eng. Leaves from the wreath of the iris)
- Herceg, hátha megjön a tél is! Poems 1911 (dt. What prince, when winter comes)
- Recitatív, poems 1916 (German recitative)
- A gólyakalifa, Roman, Budapest 1916 ( Der Storchkalif , German Leipzig 1920)
- Irodalmiproblemémák, 1917 (German literary problems)
- Nyugtalanság völgye, poems 1920 (Eng. The valley of unrest)
- Karácsonyi Madonna, 1920
- Timár Virgil fia, Roman 1922 (Ger. The son of Virgilius Timár)
- Kártyavár, Roman 1924 ( The House of Cards, German 1926)
- Sziget és tenger, poems 1925 (German island and sea)
- Battle of the Centaurs , Berlin 1926
- Halál fiai, novel 1927 (German: The Sons of Death)
- Az istenek halnak, az ember él, poems 1929 (Eng. The gods die, man lives)
- Versenyt az esztendőkkel, poems 1933 (German race against the years)
- Elza pilóta vagy a tökéletes társadalom, novel 1933 (German pilot Elsa or the perfect society)
- Jónás Königyve, narration 1940 (German: The Book of Jona )
- Az európai irodalom története, 1941 (History of European Literature, German Vienna 1949)
- Question in the evening. Poems . German selection, Budapest 1983
- The shadow of the tower. Six novellas . Leipzig 1983
- The flying village. Narrative. Full text. Übers. Babits. First in "Hungary. Monthly for German-Hungarian cultural exchange." Vol. 2, H. 1, January 1941 pp. 37-45
Web links
- Literature by and about Mihály Babits in the catalog of the German National Library
- Mihály Babits Museum
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Babits, Mihály |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Babits von Szentistván, Mihály (full name); Babits, Michael (as an author in Germany) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Hungarian poet, translator and publicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 26, 1883 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Szekszárd |
| DATE OF DEATH | 4th August 1941 |
| Place of death | Budapest |