Fraternity-Testvériség, 1955 (33. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1955-12-01 / 12. szám
12 TESTVÉEISÉG humble home of his mother, lie himself was afflicted with tuberculosis. Csokonai died in consequence of a cold which he caught at the funeral of Countess Teréz Rhédey where, on a rainy day, he read a poem, entitled “A lélek halhatatlansága” (The Immortality of the Soul). His great emotional experience was his love for Julia Vajda, the daughter of a grain merchant in Komárom. Julia loved him, but he could not marry her because of her father’s objection to a “starving poetaster.” Julia inspired his Lilia poems. During his lifetime only a fragment of his works was published. He was acclaimed by some of his literary confreres, however Ferenc Kazinczy, the most important Hungarian critic of that era, albeit he recognized Csokonai’s ability, censured his “vulgar” taste9 but nevertheless suggested the following epitapli for Csokonai’s tombstone: “I lived in Arcady.” The citizens of Debrecen accused Kazinczy of trying to make them look ridiculous. The dictionary defined Arcady as a pasture for cattle, especially for donkeys. Kazinczy answered by saying that he meant “the sphere of artistic beauty,” but it seems his reply did not convince Debrecen’s “pillars of society.” In his hometown Csokonai was befriended by János Földi, a poet and scholar whom he immortalized in an ode, entitled “Dr. Földi sirhalma felett” (At the Grave of Dr. Földi). One wonders why he had no patrons among the Hungarian nobility, although some financed the publication of his poems. D’Alembert in a memorial speech referred to Montesquieu’s visit to Hungary and spoke about “a proud and noble- minded nation.”10 Here it must be pointed out that most of the aristocrats were loyal to the Habs- burgs and supported the German Theater and Opera in Pozsony; few concerned themselves with the destiny of the Hungarian nation. During the reign of Joseph the Second, who shared some of the libertarian views of the eighteenth century French philosophers, the University of Buda was transferred to the city of Pest. It was then “that Pest became a commercial center of the country and its intellectual life began to develop.” 11 Most Hungarian writers and poets lived in obscure villages or tow’nships; the general character of the nation was agrarian, although handicraft was well represented. The first issue of a Hungarian newspaper. Magyar Hírmondó (Hungarian Newscaster), edited by Mátyás Rátb, a Lutheran minister, appeared in Pozsony in 1780; it was a biweekly with about three hundred subscribers. The newspaper had a monthly literary supplement from 9 János Váczy, ed. KAZINCZY FERENC MÜVEIBŐL- PÁLYÁM EMLÉKEZETE (Budapest, 1903), p. 345. 10 Géza Birkás, FRANCIA UTAZÓK MAGYARORSZÁGON (Szeged, 1948), p. 75. 11 Jenő Pintér, A MAGYAR IRODALOM TÖRTÉNETE (Budapest, 1938), Vol. I., p. 379. 1787 until 1788 when it ceased to appear. There were then no rights of free speech and free press. Such was the social, economic and “cultural” background of Csokonai. But, as stated before, the tenor of the times was changing. Some writers, foremost among them Ferenc Kazinczy, emphasized critical exactitude. The concept of literature broadened; there was a steadily growing appreciation of creative imagination. The quarrel between the Ancients and the Moderns had its counterpart in Hungary. Csokonai himself was versed in the works of classical, neoclassical and contemporary authors. Among his predecessors he admired István Gyöngyösi,12 w’ho wrote length}’ poems in baroque manner. Homer, Vergil, were Csokonai’s favored foreign writers and poets. Shakespeare, Milton, Rousseau, Herder and Kleist Stimulated by rococo poets, his poetry is interspersed with classical allusions, yet “he remained inherently national.”13 His Anakreoni dalok (Anacreontic Songs) and Dorottya, vagyis a dámák diadalma a farsangon (Dorothy, or the Victory of the Dames over Prince Carnival), a comic epic, appeared in 1803, the Lilia poems and Ódák (Odes) in 1805. In 1813 his works were published in four volumes in Vienna, with the annotations of József Márton, and in 1814 Ferenc Toldy, “the father of Hungarian literary history,” published Csokonai’s works in Pest, accompanied by biographical data and notes. Since then several editions appeared, of which the most complete is a six volume edition, edited by István Harsányi and József Gulyás, and published in Budapest in 1922. In 1817 Márton Domby wrote the first monograph of Csokonai; the best twentieth century biography is by Zoltán Ferenczi. There is a fictionalized biography by László Tápay Szabó. Impressionistic, historical or textual criticisms of his works were written by Ferenc Kölcsey, József Szinnyei, Ferenc Salamon, Lajos Dóczi, Albert Kardos, Gábor Oláh, István Elek, and others. Sándor Petőfi who said “our native tongue is our greatest treasure” wrote a gay poem about Csokonai; Gyula Juhász, Pál Gulyás and others wrote poems about him in a serious vein. In 1850 Csokonai Lapok (Csokonai Papers), a literary periodical, was published in Debrecen; only a few issues appeared. In 1903 a literary periodical was launched with an identical name, but after three years it too folded up. There are Csokonai statues in Budapest and Debrecen; in the latter city a public garden and a literary society are named for him. III. Like Robert Burns, Csokonai did not restrict his vocabularly to purely “urbane” terms. But em12 István Gyöngyösi (1625-1704). 13 Watson Kirkconnell, THE MAGYAR MUSE (Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1933), p. 48.
