Margit Kaffka
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Margit Kaffka (10 June 1880 – 1 December 1918) was a Hungarian writer and poet. Called a "great, great writer" by Endre Ady, she was one of the most important female Hungarian authors, and an important member of the
Nyugat ''Nyugat'' ( Hungarian for ''West''; pronounced similar to ''New-Got''), was an important Hungarian literary journal in the first half of the 20th century. Writers and poets from that era are referred to as "1st/2nd/3rd generation of the NYUGAT" ...
generation. Her writing was inspired by
József Kiss Lieutenant József Kiss de Elemér et Ittebe was a World War I flying ace for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was credited with 19 aerial victories. He was the most successful Hungarian ace in the war. Biography Born 26 January 1896, Kiss's fa ...
, Mihály Szabolcska, and the writers' group of the periodical ''Hét''.


Personal life

Margit Kaffka was born on 10 June 1880 in
Nagykároly Carei (; , ; /, yi, , ) is a city in Satu Mare County, northwestern Romania, near the border with Hungary. The city administers one village, Ianculești ( hu, Szentjánosmajor). History The first mention of the city under the name of "Karul ...
(today
Carei Carei (; , ; /, yi, , ) is a city in Satu Mare County, northwestern Romania, near the border with Hungary. The city administers one village, Ianculești ( hu, Szentjánosmajor). History The first mention of the city under the name of "Karul ...
,
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
) into a family of minor Hungarian nobility (see her family's genealogy in
Records of the Tötösy de Zepetnek Family
'). Her father was a
public prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...
, but died early and the family lived under reduced circumstances. She received a scholarship to study at the
Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...
teacher's training college in Szatmár and in return she taught for one year in
Miskolc Miskolc ( , , ; Czech language, Czech and sk, Miškovec; german: Mischkolz; yi, script=Latn, Mishkoltz; ro, Mișcolț) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 (1 Jan 2014) Miskolc is the ...
. She studied in
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 ...
, receiving a teacher's diploma from the Erzsébet Girls' School. She returned to Miskolc, where she taught literature and economics in a private girls' school, beloved by students. This is the period when her first writings, poems, and novels appeared. She subsequently became a full-time contributor to ''
Nyugat ''Nyugat'' ( Hungarian for ''West''; pronounced similar to ''New-Got''), was an important Hungarian literary journal in the first half of the 20th century. Writers and poets from that era are referred to as "1st/2nd/3rd generation of the NYUGAT" ...
'', the most important periodical of the era. She married Brúnó Fröhlich, a forestry officer, on 17 February 1905. In 1907 her husband moved to the Ministry of Agriculture, enabling Kaffka to move away from Miskolc, a town she did not like. However, their marriage became stressed after a few years, and ended in a divorce. Kaffka worked as a teacher in Budapest between 1910 and 1915. During this time, she published her best known work, ''Színek és évek'' (1912) (Colors and Years). She married for the second time in 1914 to Ervin Bauer, the younger brother of
Béla Balázs Béla Balázs (; 4 August 1884 in Szeged – 17 May 1949 in Budapest), born Herbert Béla Bauer, was a Hungarian film criticism, film critic, aesthetics, aesthetician, writer and poet of History of the Jews in Hungary, Jewish heritage. He was a ...
. At the beginning of the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
she left her teaching job to focus full-time on her literary work. She died in the
1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...
along with her young son.


Literature

Her works dealt mostly with two main themes: the fall of the
gentry Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies ''Gentry'', in its widest ...
, and the physical and spiritual hardships of the independent women in the start of the 20th century. She often wrote about her personal memories of great national crises, the glaring oppositions of the anachronistic society in Hungary. Her literary career can be divided into three chapters, from 1901 to the start of ''Nyugat'' in 1908, the second ending in the start of the war in 1918, and the third marked by the hard years after the war ending in her death. 1912 marked the release of her first, and most important novel, ''Színek és Évek'' (''Colours and Years'') dealing with the fate of the gentry class and women. Her second most famed work is ''Hangyaboly'' (''The Ant Heap'') collecting her memories from the years at Sisters of Mercy was published in 1917.


Major works

*''Versek'' (1903) *''Levelek a zárdából'' (diary novel, 1904) *''A gondolkodók és egyéb elbeszélések'' (narratives, 1906) *''Csendes válságok'' (narratives, 1909) *''Képzelet-királyfiak'' (meseregény, 1909) *''Csendes válságok'' (narratives, 1910) *''Csonka regény és novellák'' (narratives, 1911) *''Tallózó évek'' (poems, 1911) *''Utolszor a lyrán'' (poems, 1912) *''Süppedő talajon'' (narratives, 1912) *''Színek és évek'' (''Colours and Years'') (novel, 1912) *''Mária évei'' (novel, 1913) *''Szent Ildefonso bálja'' (narratives, 1914) *''Két nyár'' (novel, 1916) *''Állomások'' (novel, 1917) *''Hangyaboly'' (''The Ant Heap'') (novel, 1917) *''Kis emberek barátocskáim'' (collection of early works, 1918) *''Az élet útján'' (poems, 1918) *''A révnél'' (narratives, 1918)


Sources

* Czigány, Lóránt. "Women in Revolt: Margit Kaffka." ''The Oxford History of Hungarian Literature''. Oxford: Clarendon, 1984. 333–36. * Bodnár, György. ''Kaffka Margit''. Budapest: Balassi, 2001. * Borgos, Anna, ed. ''A te színed előtt. Kaffka Margit szerelmei''. Budapest: Holnap, 2006. * Földes, Anna. ''Kaffka Margit: Pályakép''. Budapest: Kossuth, 1987. * Fülöp, László. ''Kaffka Margit''. Budapest: Gondolat, 1988. * Horváth, Györgyi. "Női irodalom a magyar századelőn. A női irodalom szerepe Kaffka Margit ''Színek és évek'' című regényének kritikai megítélésében". ''Sárkányfű'' 4 (1999): 54–66. * Kádár, Judit. "Feminista nézőpont az irodalomtudományban". ''Helikon'' 4 (1994): 407–16. * Nemeskürty, István, "Kaffka Margit." ''Diák, írj magyar éneket. A magyar irodalom története 1945-ig''. Budapest: Gondolat, 1985. Vol. 2, 698–701. * Kárpáti, Béla. ''Miskolci irodalom, irodalom Miskolcon''. Miskolc, 1989. * Simon, Zsuzsanna, ed. ''A lélek stációi. Kaffka Margit válogatott levelezése''. Budapest: Nap, 2010. * Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven. "Margit Kaffka and Dorothy Richardson: A Comparison." ''Hungarian Studies'' 11.1 (1996): 77–95. * Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven. "Kaffka Margit prózája. Az irodalmi feminizmus kezdete Magyarországon". ''Régi és új peregrináció. Magyarok külföldön, külföldiek Magyarországon''. Ed. Imre Békési, József Jankovics, László Kósa, & Judit Nyerges. Budapest: International Association for Hungarian Studies, 1993. Vol. 2, 1185–94. * Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven (斯蒂文·托托西演). 文学研究的合法化: 一种新实用主义 ·整体化和经主 义文学与文化研究方法 (Legitimizing the Study of Literature: A New Pragmatism and the Systemic Approach to Literature and Culture). Trans. Ma Jui-ch'i (马瑞琪翻). Beijing: Peking University Press, 1997. 171–93. * Genealogy of the Kaffka de Tarczafalva Family IN: Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven. ''Records of the Tötösy de Zepetnek Family''. ''CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture'' (''Library'') (2010-): . * Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven. "Women's Literature and Men Writing about Women". ''Comparative Literature: Theory, Method, Application''. By Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1998. 174–214. * Wittmann, Livia K. "Desire in Feminist Narration: Reading Margit Kaffka and Dorothy Richardson." ''Canadian Review of Comparative Literature / Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée'' 21.3 (1994): 399–415. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaffka, Margit People from Carei Deaths from Spanish flu Infectious disease deaths in Hungary 1880 births 1918 deaths Hungarian schoolteachers Hungarian women poets 20th-century Hungarian poets 20th-century Hungarian women writers