Géza Csáth (; born József Brenner; February 13, 1887 – September 11, 1919) was a Hungarian writer, playwright, musician, music critic, psychiatrist, and physician. He was the cousin of

Dezső Kosztolányi Dezső Kosztolányi (; March 29, 1885 – November 3, 1936) was a Hungarian writer, journalist, translator and also a speaker of Esperanto. He wrote in all literary genres, from poetry to essays to theatre plays. Building his own style, he used ...

Life

Géza Csáth (pen name of József Brenner) was a writer, critic, music theoretician and medical doctor. A competent violinist even as a child, he originally wanted to be a painter, but his teachers criticised his drawing, so he turned to writing. He was barely fourteen years old when his first writings on music criticism were published. After grammar school he moved from his native

Szabadka Subotica ( sr-cyrl, Суботица, ; hu, Szabadka) is a city and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, contemporary Subotica is ...

(now

Subotica Subotica ( sr-cyrl, Суботица, ; hu, Szabadka) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, ...

in Serbia) to Budapest in order to study medicine. While at college he wrote short sketches and reviews for newspapers and magazines. He was among the first to laud the work of Bartók and Kodály. After earning his degree as a medical doctor in 1909 he worked for a short time as a junior doctor at the Psychiatric and Nerve Clinic (also known as Moravcsik Psychiatric Hospital). He wrote his great novel ''Diary of a mentally ill woman'' based on his experiences as a psychiatric doctor (his other main work is his ''Diary''). He became interested in the effects of

narcotics The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "to make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...

from a medical point of view and also as a creative artist. Out of this curiosity, he started taking morphine in 1910 and soon became addicted. Csáth also changed his job and worked at various spas as a doctor, and had ample time for writing. Most of his emblematic "dark" short stories were written during this period, often featuring utter physical or mental violence (such as fratricide, rape or seduction and abandonment of adolescent girls). Csáth often described these acts in

first person First person or first-person may refer to: * First person (ethnic), indigenous peoples, usually used in the plural * First person, a grammatical person * First person, a gender-neutral, marital-neutral term for titles such as first lady and first ...

, with powerful insight into the workings of the perpetrators' disturbed minds. His collected short stories were published under the title ''Tales which end unhappy'' (''Mesék, amelyek rosszul végződnek''). He married Olga Jónás in 1913. In 1914 he was drafted into the army, and at the

front Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * ''The Front'', 1976 film Music * The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and e ...

his drug problem worsened so much that he was often sent to medical leave and was finally discharged in 1917. He tried to quit and become a village doctor. His condition further worsened, he became paranoid and by this time his addiction was the central problem of his life, significantly deteriorating his personal relations. In 1919 he was treated at a psychiatric clinic in a provincial hospital, but he fled and returned to his home. On July 22 he shot and killed his wife with a revolver, poisoned himself and slit his arteries. He was rushed to hospital at

, but later managed to escape again. He wanted to go to the Moravcsik Psychiatric Hospital, but upon being stopped by Yugoslavian border guards he killed himself by taking poison. Inspired by Csáth's writings are the ballet "Comedia Tempio" of the dancer-choreographer Josef Nadj Danza Comedia
/ref> and the opera "A Varázsló Halála" ("The Magician's Death") by the composer Alessio Elia (first performance Nyitott Műhely Auditorium - Budapest, 14 June 2006). Janos Szaz's 2007 film "Opium: Diary of a Madwoman" features a doctor named Josef Brenner who is to some degree based on Csáth.

Bibliography

Works in English * ''Diary of Géza Csáth.'' Translated by Peter Reich. Budapest: Angelusz & Gold, 2000. * ''Magician's Garden and Other Stories by Géza Csáth.'' Compiled by Marianna D. Birnbaum, and translated by Jascha Kessler and Charlotte Rogers. New York: Columbia UP, 1980. Works in Italian * ''Oppio e altre storie''(with drawings by Attila Sassy). Translated and edited by M. D'Alessandro. Roma: E/O, 1985. Works in Spanish * ''Cuentos que acaban mal''. Translated into Spanish b
Dixon Servicios Lingüísticos, S.L.Bernadette Borosi
an
Marga Valdeolmillos
and published in Spain b
El Nadir
2007 Works in German * Csáth, Géza: ''Tagebuch 1912-1913 / Géza Csáth''. Aus dem Ungarischen von Hans Skirecki und mit einem Nachwort versehen von Lászlo F. Földényi. Berlin
Brinkmann und Bose
1990. () * Csáth, Géza: ''Muttermord''. Aus dem Ungarischen von Hans Skirecki. Berlin
Brinkmann und Bose
1989 () * Csáth, Géza: ''Erzählungen''. Aus dem Ungarischen von Hans Skirecki. Berlin
Brinkmann und Bose
1999 () Works in Danish * Csáth, Géza: ''Dagbog 1912-1913 Translator by Péter Eszterhás ()

Notes

External links

Biographical essay at Hungarian Literature Online

Martin Carayol, Poetics of torture: the case of Géza Csáth

*
The Magician's Death - musical excerpt of the opera
*
Recension of "Géza Csáth: ''Diary 1912-1913''" at eckfenster.de
(in German language) {{DEFAULTSORT:Csath, Geza 1887 births 1919 suicides 1919 deaths Hungarians in Vojvodina 20th-century Hungarian male writers Hungarian psychiatrists Suicides in Serbia Writers from Subotica Hungarian murderers Suicides by poison Murder–suicides in Europe