Sáfrán Györgyi: Arany János-gyűjtemény. Petőfi Sándor–Szendrey Júlia kéziratok (A MTAK kézirattárának katalógusai 13., 1982)

Angol nyelvű kivonat

176 As a writer and editor and later the secretary-general, he did much to promote English literature in Hungary and to extend English-Hungarian scientific connections. He learned English and could translate the plays: "A Midsummer Nigh's Dream", "The life and death of King John" and "Hamlet" from the original. In 1864 the Budapest National Theater celebrated the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth by presenting "A Midsummer Night's Dream". These plays are being performed in Arany's version even today. Fragments of his translations from "Macbeth" and "Romeo and Juliet" have survived. Arany read much of Byron, whose works could be found in his library, he also translated parts of "Don Juan". Moore and Burns were his favourites and he did translate from them too. In his literary remains there is a letter from John Bowring who edited a collection, the "Poetry of the Magyars" (1830), and from Ed. D. Butler who, after Arany, wrote up the legend of the mythical stag of Hungarian legendary prehistory, and who wrote the articles of Hungarian subject in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. As secretary "general of the Academy of Sciences Arany commemorated Thomas Watts, a researcher of the British Museum, who had been a propagator of Hungarian literature in England. Arany's obituary on him was published by István Gál, currently the eminent explorer into English-Hungarian contacts, in the 1967 volume of the journal "Irodalomtörténeti Közlemények". He also presented a comprehensive study in the journal "Forrás" in 1971 titled "János Arany and English Literature." The son of János Arany, László Arany (1844-1898), also a poet, turned towards England and its literature with great interest. He visited England and had significant English connections, but the document s of these facts were destroyed in World War n. It is possible that relevant letters, documents may emerge in the future in England. An earlier list of the works of János Arany translated into English and other languages were compiled by Frigyes Lám and Géza Voinovich. This can be found in our Arany-collection, its call- number among the manuscripts is: Ms 10.022/g. The works of the two poets translated into foreign languages existing in our Manuscript Section can be found in the two sections concerning Arany and Petőfi of our catalogue.