Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1979. január-június (33. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)
1979-02-08 / 6. szám
Thursday, Feb. 8. 1979. ^AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZQ— The Centennial of Zsigmond Móricz (cont. from p. 7.) in the stranglehold of the latifundium, a world from which the figure of the peasant hero, Dani Túri, stands out almost superhuman. Behind the Beyond, 1911, calls up the stifling atmosphere, the mystiness and bleakness of life in Hungarian provincial towns in the early 20th century, a milieu in which grotesque narrow-mindedness killed every aspiration to higher things. Apart from Good Luck! (1914) an . unfinished novel on foundry- men’s life, the most significant novel of this, initial, period isThe Torch, 1917.The Principal hero, a Calvinist minister, as he prepares to enter into a living in his native village, cherishes some very ambitious plans, intending to become the leader of his people. Confronted however with difficulties, with backwardness and selfishness, and worsted by his weakness and love of comfort, he ends up by accepting the actual conditions and conforming to the ways of the local gentry. Descriptions of good intentions that end in compromise, the character of the well- meaning intellectual who fails, of the reluctant fence-sitter who cannot make up his mind which side he should join - the rulers or the ruled-crops up time and again in Móricz’s later works. At the end of The Torch, shocked by the experience of a devastating fire, the clergyman utters the melancholy comment: “It hath been consummated; and nothing hath been resolved.” Already, in the course of these years, his admirable short stories were appearing besides his novels. After some isolated attempts before him Móricz succeeded in shaping the modern form of the Hungarian short story — a condensed, terse form, one that is tautly tragic and works up to a point, reminiscent of the Maupassantian short story. His good qualities include an ability to create an atmosphere with a few sentences, a terse presentation of his characters, and an extraordinary lifelikeness of dialogue — it is in the last quality that his rich experience of life shines at its best. In his short stories written in this period, too, he calls up memories of his childhood years, depicting the world of the Hungarian village and provincial town. Several classic stories give a gripping picture of the peasant who rebels but goes under. In the second and third years of the world war, a new theme cropped up in his short stories: the tragic fate of the underdog, dehumanised, trained to kill, and unconsciously rebelling (Poor Folks). As an author of nationwide repute, who was the pride of Nyugat and the new literary movement, he was an enthusiastic supporter, first of the bourgeois revolution of 1918, then of the Hungarian Republic of Councils of 1919. In reportages, newspaperar- ticles and in short stories he gave a true and authentic picture of the revolutionary peasantry of those months, described the great experience of the carving up of the large estates, the newly formed cooperative farms; and drew portraits of peasant leaders. During the period of the “White Terror” following the downfall of the Hungarian Republic of Councils the great writer suffered persecution; for some time,his writings were not printed anywhere, except in the Nyugat. Dejection,depression and disillusionment overcame him in the early 1920’s; these were, for him, years of . crisis and of search for a way out. This basic feeling — his search for a way out of his spiritual crisis, the search for a meaning of Hungarian history — lies at the root of his works written in the 1920’s. His grippingly beautiful youth novel, Be Faithful unto Death — a story since then adapted to the stage and filmed — was written in 1920. In the hero — young Mishi Nyilas, a student of Debrecen Secondary School — he has portrayed himself, his own struggles in an inexplicable adult world, his yearning for innocence and love. Memories of his childhood, and his momentary alarm, lend a subjective lyrical touch to this novel as well as to its sequels — Ferment of Wine (1931) and The Ball (1936) — which conjure up the turbulent years of puberty. In another group of his writings he delves into the past. Erdély has a rightful claim to a distinguished place among the great 20th century historical novels. A third group of his novels and short stories reaches back into the recent past: they give a portrayal of the life of the Hungarian gentry at the turn of the century - a picture of decay going on behind a glittering facade. The Relatives, 1930-32, takes us into a Hungarian provincial town writhing in the throes of the world economic crisis. This time the hero is a municipal attorney. He entertains some ideas of social reform, but — 'because of his relatives, some love- affairs, and other things — he eventually becomes corrupted and is faced by the ultimate alternative of either howling with the pack or being torn to shreds. In 1931 he was publicly branded a traitor to his country and became the center and subject of a nationwide dispute. He took over editorship of Nyugat for sometime (1929-1933) and made an attempt to bring the review closer to everyday realities. Like many others of his .countrymen, Móricz became increasingly radical in his views under the impact of the economic crisis. A Happy Man, 1932" 35, is a peculiar experiment of much significance. Here, the story is of the unendurable humiliation and poverty that was the lot of the poor peasants at the time, of the hopeless struggle for life waged by industrious, hard-working people; and the narrative is told through the mouth of a poor peasant, in a succession of interviews with the author. The effect thus produced is one of extraordinary authenticity, a highly realistic impression is given. Móricz went far in breaking with the conventional form of the novel, too. The Romance of My Life, 1939, is a factual, inner-view, autobiographical account and it also gives a searching analysis of the turn of the century. The last years of his life were overclouded by expanding fascism, the approach and eventually the outbreak of the war. In his own way, he was a militant anti-fascist. The great works of the last phase of his career point toward a new trend. The Orphan (1941 ^perhaps his most essential and most flawless piece of writing, is the story of a little foundling presented from within. The child, who knows neither compromise nor acquiescence, pronounces the most authentic sentence on the society which has flouted its innocent humanism. Its theme,the struggle between Good and Evil, between the natural and the unnatural, this novelette — divided into chapters that are called “Psalms” — is shot with an individual lyric pathos. His last great work — the two-volume novel BECKET REMEMBERED. Thomas A. Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered on December 29, 1170, had an affectionate relationship with Lukacs Banffi, Archbishop of Esztergom. On hearing of Becket’s death, Banffi had a chapel erected on one of the hills surrounding Esztergom which came to be known as Tamás /Thomas/ hill. Last year, in the presence of László Lekai, Primate of Hungary and Archbishop of Esztergom, representatives of the British Embassy placed memorial tablets in Hungarian and English on the wall of the chapel. • 95 percent of the privately held land in America is in the hands of three percent of the population. • The Soil Conservation Service estimates that over 3.5 billion tons of soil are lost each year through erosion on privately owned land. Sándor Rozsa, 1940-42, about a famous peasant outlaw —is a cross between the epic and the novel; between history and literature. Through the principal character, the events of 1848-49 are viewed “from below”, from the 'angle of the serfs, and, though the historical picture presented is distorted here and there, the author makes his point clear and unmistakable: his advocacy of a peasant revolution “from below”, the necessity of a settlement of social problems — voiced in the darkest years of fascist rule! — came as an eye-opener and a call to revolt. It is through his eyes that the Hungarian reader and a whole generation of Hungarian writers have come to view the Hungarian peasant and middle class. His powerful vision, his character-drawing ability, his deep knowledge of life, as well as his loyalty and ardour, raise him far above his contemporaries as the greatest Hungarian prose writer. 8 __
