Psyché (Weöres)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Psyché: Egy hajdani költőnő írásai ("Psyche: writings of a poet from distant days"), in short: Psyché ("Psyche"), is a largely fictional anthology by the Hungarian poet Sándor Weöres, published in 1972 . It contains the poetic works of the Hungarian poets Erzsébet Mária Psyché Lónyay and László Ungvárnémeti Tóth from the beginning of the 19th century,who were supposedly forgotten and rediscovered by Weöres. While Ungvárnémeti Tóth actually existed and was actuallyrediscoveredby Weöres , the poet Erzsébet Mária Psyché Lónyay is a literary invention of Weöres .

content

construction

Psyché essentially consists of the complete publication of thepoems writtenby Lónyay (in fact by Weöres ). The poems are arranged chronologically andsubdividedaccording to the stages of Lónyay's life, so that Lónyay's biography shimmers throughthe (often "autobiographical") poems.

A determining factor in Lónyay's life was the relationship with her childhood sweetheart László Ungvárnémeti Tóth . This provides Weöres with the excuse to publish works by Ungvárnémeti Tóth in a second part of Psyché : selected poems and an abridged version of his tragedy Nárcisz vagy a 'gyilkos önn-szeretet (“Narcissus or Die Murderische Selbstliebe ”).

The poetic texts are supplemented by some inserted, mostly short diary-like notes and five somewhat longer prose texts: Between the poems by Lónyay from 1808–1830 and the works by Ungvárnémeti Tóth (all published in 1816) is a text by Lónyay from 1820 inserted, which reports in the style of a diary entry about the untimely death of Ungvárnémeti Tóth ; This is followed by an exchange of letters from 1821. After the works of Ungvárnémeti Tóth , after a brief appraisal by the editor Weöres , three further texts follow , all of which were written after Lónyay's death (1831): a memory of Lónyay by the (fictional) actress Marianna Csernus in 1842, a first literary scholarly one Appreciation of Lónyay by the (fictional) philologist Márton Achátz in 1871 and finally a text by the (supposed) editor Sándor Weöres in 1971.

action

While Psyché is primarily a collection of poems, a plot can be recognized from the content of Lónyay's poems and the retrospective prose texts: Lónyay comes from the Hungarian nobility on the one hand, but from Roma on the other hand , and thus breaks the usual social classifications based on their origins. Born in 1795, she leads the completely unadapted life of an emancipated, like-minded woman, who socialized with the greats of the time from Goethe to Beethoven , sexually permissive and, above all, artistically active young woman who consistently refuses to accept any role - a life that so in fact it would hardly have been possible in Hungary in the early 19th century.

The harsh reaction of the people around her, which repeatedly brings harm to her, finally made Lónyay consent to a marriage with Baron Maximilian von Zedlitz , who had been courting her for a long time and was 24 years her senior, in 1816 . Her great, unfulfilled love, however, remained all her life Ungvárnémeti Tóth , to whom she had taught writing and later poetry as a child in a Roma colony. He never had sexual contact with him, however, and he finally died in 1820 (presumably unlike the historical Ungvárnémeti Tóth) of syphilis , which he contracted from a prostitute.

Lónyay died in 1831 when she was run over by a team of horses from Baron von Zedlitz. It remains unclear whether it was an accident or the murder of a jealous husband.

Allegorical-mythological level

Weöres gives Ungvárnémeti Tóth in Psyché the nickname of the main character of his tragedy, “ Nárcisz ” (“Narcissus”); Lónyay already has “ Psyché ” (“Psyche”) as his third first name . The relationship between Lónyay and Ungvárnémeti Tóth is reminiscent of the ancient myths of Amor and Psyche on the one hand and Narcissus and Echo on the other. ( For Ungvárnémeti Tóth, Narcissus and Echo is also the ancient model for his own tragedy, Nárcisz .) Psyché is thus given a second level of meaning.

As Psyche in the myth is Psyché irresistibly beautiful and at the same time the epitome of soul . Nárcisz falls in love with her. But unlike Echo in Mythos, Psyché is not speechless, but in complete contrast to this, as a poet, she is particularly powerful in speech. The fact that Nárcisz (who Psyche taught poetry) still does not find her way shows how completely he is caught up in himself.

Psyche, on the other hand, does not perish immediately like Echo on Nárcisz , who disdains her, but instead fails because of her own husband, Freiherr von Zedlitz, the epitome of enlightened, sober rationality that absorbs all sensuality .

The gloomy diagnosis of the times indicated in it corresponds to Weöres ' pessimistic view of modernity in this regard . Weöres leaves it largely with these indications through the naming; In Psyché he is more interested in the historical (or fictitious historical) figures made of flesh and blood and above all in their literary work. It was not until the psyché- based film Narcissus and Psyche that the allegorical- mythological aspect came to the fore.

shape

As inaccurate as Erzsébet Mária Psyché Lónyay's (fictional) life was, her ( i.e. Weöres ') poems are also inconsistent with the literary canon of their time, which was characterized by a patriotic and moralistic style. Lónyay's poems, on the other hand, revolve around everyday life, are erotic, playful, humorous or satirical and then again of metaphysical seriousness - all elements that were missing in the Hungarian poetry of the time. ( Ungvárnémeti Tóth's work, which is based on classical antiquity, is equally alien to the style of his time, albeit completely different from that of Lónyay .)

The poet he invented allows Weöres to playfully and virtuously live out his outstanding talent for composing poetry in the most varied of styles.

Weöres makes the historical existence of his fictional poet plausible in a similarly virtuoso manner . Not only does he meticulously link her life with the actual biography of Ungvárnémeti Tóth , whom he greatly admires and whose works he can also publish. Many other historical figures of the time are also skillfully related to the life of Lónyay . So it is often "Elise" called Lónyay , for Beethoven For Elise composed, and Goethe dedicates his poem nearby  .

The figure of Maximilian Freiherr von Zedlitz occupies a special position. As a historical figure himself, he is related to Karl Abraham Freiherrn von Zedlitz as a descendant of the noble family of those von Zedlitz , a patron of Immanuel Kant , to whom the latter therefore dedicated his Critique of Pure Reason . In addition to the mythological figures of Psyché and Nárcisz , the allegorical figure of Baron von Zedlitz appears as the epitome of the Enlightenment.

Position in literary history

Classification in the work of the author

The feat of spreading an entire epic cosmos with allegorical-mythological overtones in the fragmentary form of a fictional anthology and at the same time slipping into the skin of a poet from another epoch in a literary way is mostly regarded as the most important work of Weöres , that expresses all of his abilities in a concentrated manner. 

Position in literary history

Sándor Weöres is considered one of the most important Hungarian poets of the 20th century. Accordingly, Psyché can be considered one of the most important works of Hungarian literature of the 20th century. 

reception

Impact history

Psyché is the literary source for the experimental feature film Narcissus and Psyche by Gábor Bódy from 1980.

Bea Palya published a CD of the same name in 2005with the setting of 38 poems from Psyché . The CD is supplied with a booklet that contains all the poems set to music, but also parts of the prose texts from Psyché .

Translations

Due to the virtuoso play with the styles and possibilities of the Hungarian language, Psyché is considered difficult or impossible to translate. A German translation does not yet exist.

literature

(Hungarian) text editions

  • Sándor Weöres : Psyché: Egy hajdani költőnő írásai . ("Psyche: writings of a poet from distant days"). Magvető , Budapest 1972, DNB  1003259200 (294 pages).
  • Sándor Weöres : Psyché: Egy hajdani költőnő írásai . ("Psyche: writings of a poet from distant days"). Pesti Szalon , Budapest 1995, ISBN 963-605-112-7 (202 pages, first edition: 1972).
  • Sándor Weöres : Psyché . ("Psyche"). In: Collected Works . Helikon (accessed February 15, 2011), Budapest 2010, ISBN 978-963-227-240-5 (304 pages, first edition: 1972).

Dubbing

  • Sándor Weöres, Bea Palya : Psyché . ("Psyche"). Helikon (accessed on February 25, 2016), Budapest 2005, ISBN 963-208-979-0 (64 pages, booklet + CD).

Secondary literature

  • Zsuzsanna Gahse : The most important poet of Hungary - The von Ungern. A reference to Sándor Weöres  - and the request for a work edition . In: The time . No. 13 , 1986, pp. 96 ( zeit.de ).
  • Éva Ócsai : A Lyrical Novel and its Filmic Adaptation . ( Sándor Weöres: Psyché and Gábor Bódy : Narcissus and Psyche ) . In: TRANS. Internet journal for cultural studies . No. 16 . Institute for Research and Promotion of Austrian and International Literature Processes , 2005, ISSN  1560-182X ( eMag [accessed on January 22, 2011]).
  • Sándor Iván Kovács : Weöres Sándor és Ungvárnémeti Tóth László . (" Sándor Weöres and László Ungvárnémeti Tóth "). In: Új Holnap . ("New Tomorrow"). Miskolc University , Miskolc March 1996.
  • Júlia Vallasek : Psyché tükrében . ("In the mirror of Psyche"). In: Korunk . ("Our Age"). May 1999 ( eMag [accessed January 22, 2011]).
  • Susanna Fahlström : Form and philosophy in Sándor Weöres ' poetry . Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 1999, ISBN 91-554-4614-0 , ISSN  1101-7430 , urn : nbn: se: uu: diva-409 (244 pages).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Today he is undisputedly the most important poet of his country", 3rd paragraph
  2. ↑ "Because he works with treacherous language structures in his poems (mostly multi-part compositions), with old and new language layers and onomatopoeia, it is particularly difficult to translate it into German", penultimate paragraph
  • Quotes by Éva Ócsai from: Éva Ócsai : A Lyrical Novel and its Filmic Adaptation. ( Sándor Weöres: Psyché and Gábor Bódy : Narcissus and Psyche) . In: TRANS. Internet journal for cultural studies . No. 16 . Institute for Research and Promotion of Austrian and International Literature Processes , 2005, ISSN  1560-182X ( eMag [accessed on January 22, 2011]).
  1. ^ " Sándor Weöres (1913–1989), who is above all known as one of the most significant poets of Hungary ", 1st paragraph
  2. ^ " One of the greatest works of art of twentieth century Hungarian literature ", 1st paragraph
  3. ↑ " As a conclusion, it's a pity that Psyché by Sándor Weöres cannot be translated into other languages ", last paragraph
  1. ^ " Without doubt, the volume Psyché [...] is the most remarkable work of Weöres ", p. 21
  2. ^ " There is no doubt that Sándor Weöres is one of the most debated and controversial Hungarian poets of the 20th century ", page 11

Remarks

  1. ↑ Goethe notes on the poem: "A mirror for you". Goethe did not write his own poem for Lónyay , because: "You are an Indian goddess, and a crude German poem, therefore, what you worshiped would be blasphemy."
  2. ↑ compare the New Prussian Adels Lexicon , Volume 4, page 366 ff. (Accessed on January 26, 2011)
  3. ↑ Weöres only lets Lónyay report about the relationship with Joseph Christian Freiherrn von Zedlitz , who in turn was related to Karl Abraham Freiherrn von Zedlitz.