Károly Molter (; 2 December 1890 – 30 November 1981) was a Hungarian novelist, dramatist, literary critic, journalist and academic. He spent most of his life in the region of

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

, being successively a national of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

and Romania.

Biography

Born in Óverbász (Vrbas),

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...

region, Molter was from an

ethnic German Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The constitution of Germany, implemented in 1949 following the end of World War ...

(

Danube Swabian The Danube Swabians ( ) is a collective term for the ethnic German-speaking population who lived in the Kingdom of Hungary in east-central Europe, especially in the Danube River valley, first in the 12th century, and in greater numbers in the 17 ...

) family, but adopted Hungarian as his language. Lucian Nastasă, Levente Salat (eds.)
''Maghiarii din România şi etica minoritară (1920-1940)''
p.236, at th
Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center. Open Society Foundation Romania
retrieved September 2, 2007 He studied at the College of

Kecskemét Kecskemét ( ) is a city with county rights in central Hungary. It is the List of cities and towns of Hungary, eighth-largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun County, Bács-Kiskun. Kecskemét lies halfway between the ca ...

, and then at the

University of Budapest A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

Faculty of Philosophy in Letter (the Hungarian-German section). In 1913, he moved to Transylvania, settling down in Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mureş). Between 1913 and 1945, he was a teacher in the Bolyai Gymnasium, a

Reformed Church Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian, ...

college in the city. In the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

, after the

union of Transylvania with Romania The union of Transylvania with Romania was declared on by the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia. The Great Union Day (also called ''Unification Day''), celebrated on 1 December, is a Public holidays in Romani ...

, he became a member of the '' Erdélyi Helikon'' group in Marosvécs (Brâncoveneşti), as well as sitting on the editorial staff of ''Zord Idő'' magazine. In 1937, he published one of his most successful works, the novel ''Tibold Márton'', which depicted a Swabian family in the process of adopting

Hungarian culture Hungarian may refer to: * Hungary, a country in Central Europe * Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946 * Hungarians/Magyars, ethnic groups in Hungary * Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the ...

, as well as the problems faced by ethnic minorities in their relation to the majority. After 1945, Molter was employed by the Bolyai faculty in

Cluj Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

, where he lectured in German language and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

. Retiring in 1950, he moved back to Târgu Mureș, and died there 31 years later.

Works

* ''F. m. Melánia R. T.'' (1929) * ''Tibold Márton'' (1937) * ''Bolond kisváros'' ("Foolish Little Town", 1942) * ''Reformáció és magyar műveltség'' ("Reformation and the Hungarian Culture", 1944) * ''Harci mosolyok'' ("Martial Smiles", 1956; short stories) * ''Iparkodj kisfiam!'' ("Struggle, My Little Son!", 1964) * ''Szellemi belháború'' ("The Intellectual Interwar", 1968) * ''Komor korunk derűje'' ("The Brightness in Our Somber Times", 1971; anecdotes) * ''Örökmozgó'' ("Perpetual Motion", 1974; plays) * ''Buborékharc'' ("Bubble War", 1980; essays)

Biography

Works

References

Further reading