Sándor Petőfi, a key figure of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, is considered Hungary’s national poet.Continue reading
The Hungarian Heritage Institute (NÖRI) commemorated the 125th Birth Anniversary of Poet Lőrinc Szabó (1900-1957).
The event was held on Monday at the poet’s grave in Fiume Road Graveyard to honor the anniversary of his birth. Speeches were delivered by Gábor Móczár, Director-General of NÖRI, and Ernő Kulcsár-Szabó, literary historian and full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA).
Kulcsár-Szabó highlighted that
Lőrinc Szabó not only lived through the destruction of two world wars but also experienced the deepest crisis of European individualism, the decline of bourgeois cultural values, and the lasting Massification of society.
He pointed out that Szabó Lőrinc responded to this crisis in ways similar to Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Paul Valéry, and Gottfried Benn. Alongside Dezső Kosztolányi and Attila József (contemporary poets of his age), he helped elevate Hungarian poetry to the forefront of European literature at the time. By 1945, Szabó had become a classic figure of modern Hungarian poetry, synthesizing the most valuable traditions of early 20th-century aestheticism, the avant-garde, and late modernism.
Móczár emphasized that Szabó’s grave is a key stop in NÖRI’s thematic cemetery tours. It is prominently featured in presentations about Fiume Road Graveyard’s Artists’ Section, alongside the resting places of Mihály Babits and Zsigmond Móricz (famous last century poets), as well as in literary-themed walks. “Szabó was given a state funeral, and in a brief, unofficial moment, Gyula Illyés (fellow poet and friend) spoke at his wake.
Friends gathered at his grave every year on October 3, at 2:55 p.m., the exact time of his passing,”
said Móczár. Originally, Szabó’s tombstone was made of pinewood, but it deteriorated over time despite multiple restorations by its creator, Ervin Páljános. Eventually, the Lőrinc Szabó Foundation commissioned a more durable replacement, which Gábor Csóti reinterpreted in artificial stone in 2011.
Lőrinc Szabó (1900-1957) was a defining figure of modern Hungarian poetry and an accomplished translator. Some consider his 1932 poetry collection You and the World (Te meg a világ), along with Attila József’s poems about consciousness, to be the pinnacle of 20th-century Hungarian poetry.
Via MTI; Featured picture: Fiumei Úti Sírkert Facebook