From Latin to Hungarian
The founding works of Hungarian literature, especially the chansons de geste, disappeared during the travels of the nomadic Hungarian people. The first writings that have come down to us were composed in Latin after the Christianization of the country. Among them is Simon Kézai's Gesta Hungarorum, written around 1263, which allows us to discover the families of the kingdom of Hungary. Beware, if some facts are real, others are more or less invented, you will be able to undertake some research to know the whole truth. It is important to know that from the Middle Ages to the 17th century, two literatures coexisted. One, ecclesiastical, is written in Latin and aims to highlight the Hunnic origins of the Hungarians: think for example of History of the Hungarians (anonymous) around 1200. The other present literature is written in ancient Hungarian and is intended to be more popular: Funeral Oration around 1150 (which is a free translation of a Latin oration) or Lament of Mary, around 1300. To perfect his knowledge of Hungarian history, the Chronica Hungarorum (Chronicle of the Hungarians
) by Johannes de Thurocz (1435-1488) provides information on the history of the 15th century. Some of the manuscripts can be seen in the Széchényi National Library in Budapest. During the Renaissance, the humanist movement was led by Bishop Janus Pannonius (1434-1472). The latter wrote epigrams in Latin, but is nevertheless considered the first great figure of Hungarian literature. From then on, Hungarian became the language of literature. Bálint Balassi (1554-1594) is one of its proud representatives and is considered the founder of modern Hungarian lyric poetry with his religious hymns, patriotic songs, love poems and adaptations of Latin texts.From romantic literature to new literature
In the 18th century, poetry and epistolary literature coexisted. Between 1790 and 1792, the Hungarian language became obligatory in the administration, the justice and the schools. Ferenc Kazinczy (1759-1831) gave the language its letters of nobility and became an undeniable figure of the country's literature. At the beginning of the 19th century, Romantic literature was born with, for example, Mihály Csokonai Vitéz (1773-1805) and his Dorothea or the Triumph of the Ladies over Carnival (1804). But the Romantic aesthetic developed especially around the 1820s, driven by themes such as national revival and historical consciousness. The anguish of the Hungarian people for the future can be read in historical tragedies(Palatin Bánk, József Katona, 1814) or poetry(Hymn, Ferenc Kölcsey, 1823). The failure of the 1848 revolution brought with it a new literature working for the rehabilitation of the Hungarian people. János Arany is its central figure. Author of an epic trilogy, he died in Budapest in 1882. At the beginning of the 20th century, the magazine Nyugat (1907-1941) was created and became the crucible of the new literature. Also worth mentioning is Mihály Babits (1883-1941), but even more so the famous Dezső Kosztolányi, whose work Kornél Esti (1933) remains one of the most famous and widely read works of Hungarian literature. Lajos Kassák is the most prominent figure of the Hungarian avant-garde. He embodies the world of André Breton. The city of Budapest pays tribute to him in its Lajos Kassák Museum, located in the 3rd district.
Memory of the Holocaust, memory of communism
Born and died in Budapest, Imre Kertész left his mark on the history of Budapest and the history of the Jewish people. At the age of 15, he was deported to Auschwitz and then to Buchenwald and returned alone. It was from this painful experience that his work Être sans destin (Being without Destiny ) was first published in 1975. It was not until the fall of the Berlin Wall that his work was recognized and crossed borders! Imre Kertész was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2002 "for a work that sets the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history". Also born in Budapest, Péter Esterházy (1950-2016) is the descendant of one of the oldest and most powerful families in Europe. It is for this reason that he experienced the treatment reserved for aristocrats by the communists: property taken over, parents deported. Just as Imre Kertész denounced Nazism, Péter Esterházy castigated in his work the terror inflicted by the communists. With his first book, Francsiko and Pinta, published in 1976, he became the greatest figure of postmodern Hungarian literature. His novel Three Angels Watch Me, published in 1979, is also worth mentioning. His originality in structure and writing marks a break in Hungarian literature.
Two recent names from Budapest
Let us not forget to mention contemporary authors such as Benedek Tótth, born in 1977 and living in Budapest. His first novel, Comme des rats morts, is published in 2017. In 2019, he wrote The War After the Last War, which tells the story of a teenager looking for his brother in a city destroyed by the nuclear war between the Americans and Russians. This city is probably Budapest, but shhh..
We should also mention the author János Térey and his collection of short stories published in 2014, La Traversée de Budapest. It reveals some pretty secrets and some hidden sides. Lovers of the city or those who really want to discover it will find some clues. It is reminiscent of Andras Török's guide published in 1989 (translated in 2001). Indeed, the story is quite incredible for this Hungarian born in Budapest in 1954 who, not finding the ideal guide to his city, ended up writing it. After all, as the old saying goes: you are never better served than by yourself! For him, his whole life and career has been organized around Budapest, so what better way to pay tribute to it than with an alternative guide, one of those little guides who reveal a thousand and one secrets?
