Lőrinc Szabó de Gáborján ( hu, gáborjáni Szabó Lőrinc ; Miskolc, 31 March 1900 –

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

, 3 October 1957) was a Hungarian poet and literary translator.

Biography

He was born in Miskolc as the son of an engine driver, Lőrinc Szabó sr., and Ilona Panyiczky. The family moved to Balassagyarmat when he was 3 years old. He attended school in Balassagyarmat and

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and ...

. He studied at the ELTE in

where he befriended

Mihály Babits Mihály Babits (; 26 November 1883 – 4 August 1941) was a Hungarian poet, writer and translator. His poems are well known for their intense religious themes. His novels such as “The Children of Death” (1927) explore psychological pro ...

. He didn't finish his studies; instead he began to work for the literary periodical ''Az Est'' in 1921, shortly after he married Klára Mikes, the daughter of Lajos Mikes. He worked there until 1944. Between 1927 and 1928 he was a founder and editor of the periodical ''Pandora''. His first published poems appeared in the 1920s in the '' Nyugat'' ("The West"). His first book of poetry was published in 1922 under the title ''Föld, erdő, Isten'' ("Earth, Forest, God") and received considerable success. He got the Baumgarten Award in 1932, 1937 and 1943. As a translator, he translated several works of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

('' Timon of Athens'' in 1935, '' As You Like It'' in 1938, '' Macbeth'' in 1939, ''

Troilus and Cressida ''Troilus and Cressida'' ( or ) is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1602. At Troy during the Trojan War, Troilus and Cressida begin a love affair. Cressida is forced to leave Troy to join her father in the Greek camp. Me ...

'' in 1948);

Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...

's '' Ancient Mariner'' and ''

Kubla Khan ''Kubla Khan'' () is a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, completed in 1797 and published in 1816. It is sometimes given the subtitles "A Vision in a Dream" and "A Fragment." According to Coleridge's preface to ''Kubla Khan'', the poe ...

'', Baudelaire's '' Les Fleurs du mal'' (together with Babits and Árpád Tóth);

François Villon François Villon ( Modern French: , ; – after 1463) is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these e ...

's '' Grand Testament'',

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

's '' L'École des femmes'',

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

's '' The Sorrows of Young Werther'', Thomas Hardy's '' Tess of the d'Urbervilles'', and works of Verlaine,

Tyutchev Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Тю́тчев, r=Fyódor Ivánovič Tyútčev, links=1, p=ˈfʲɵdər ɪˈvanəvʲɪt͡ɕ ˈtʲʉt͡ɕːɪf; Pre-Reform orthography: ; – ) was a Russian poet and diplomat. ...

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

, Krylov,

Kleist Kleist, or von Kleist, is a surname. von Kleist: * August von Kleist (1818–1890), Prussian Major General * Conrad von Kleist (1839-1900), German politician (German Conservative Party), member of Reichstag *Ewald Georg von Kleist (ca. 1700–1748) ...

, Mörike, Nietzsche, George, Rilke,

Benn Benn is a surname and given name. It may refer to: Surname * A. W. Benn (1843–1915), British rationalist/humanist writer * Aluf Benn (born 1965), Israeli journalist, author and editor-in-chief of the Israeli national daily newspaper ''Haaretz'' ...

and Weinheber. He fought in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, met Gyula Gömbös and at a literary congress at

Lillafüred Lillafüred (Miskolc-Lillafüred) is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Hungary. Officially, it is a part of Miskolc, though it is almost 12 kilometres away from the city, in the Bükk Mountains. Lillafüred is a tourist resort. Hist ...

he emphasized the beauty of war poetry. In 1942 Lőrinc Szabó joined the "''Europäische Schriftstellervereinigung''" (i.e. ''European Writers' League'') which had been founded by

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the '' Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to ...

. Frank-Rutger Hausmann (2004) ''"Dichte, Dichter, tage nicht!" – Die Europäische Schriftsteller-Vereinigung in Weimar 1941–1948''. Today his correspondence with its head secretary Carl Rothe shows their close friendship. Szabó became the speaker of Hungarian section of the European Writers' League after József Nyírő and published articles in the organisation's magazine "''Europäische Literatur''" (i.e. ''European Literature''). This led to him being considered right-wing, and because of this, after the war he was left out of cultural life and could publish only translations, not his own works. His importance was recognised only shortly before his death, when he received the

Kossuth Prize The Kossuth Prize ( hu, Kossuth-díj) is a state-sponsored award in Hungary, named after the Hungarian politician and revolutionist Lajos Kossuth. The Prize was established in 1948 (on occasion of the centenary of the March 15th revolution, the ...

. He died of a heart attack.

Poetry

Several of his poems were written to his children ''Lóci'' and ''Klári'', while in other poems he remembers his own childhood. In 1950 his long-time girlfriend Erzsébet Korzáti committed suicide. His sonnet cycle ''The 26th Year'' was written in her memory. it was published in 1957.

Books of poetry

* Föld, erdő, Isten (''Earth, Forest, God'', 1922) * Kalibán (''Caliban'', 1923) * Fény, fény, fény (''Light, Light, Light'', 1926) * A Sátán műremekei (''Masterpieces of Satan'', 1926) * Te meg a világ (''You and the World'', 1932) * Különbéke (''Separate Peace'', 1936) * Harc az ünnepért (''Fight for the Holiday'', 1938) * Régen és most (''Then and Now'', 1943) * Tücsökzene (''Cricket Song'', 1947) * A huszonhatodik év (''The 26th Year'', 1957)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szabo, Lorinc 1900 births 1957 deaths People from Miskolc National Peasant Party (Hungary) politicians Hungarian male poets Translators to Hungarian 20th-century translators 20th-century Hungarian poets 20th-century Hungarian male writers Baumgarten Prize winners