The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1984 (11. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1984-04-01 / 4. szám
LESLIE KÖNNYŰ: THE MAN AND THE SYMBOL An introduction by Charles Guenther If we would enjoy its fullness, life should be a growing and a becoming, as Matthew Arnold observed. But sometimes we must pause and look back to see where we have been and what we have done, to set a new course if necessary and to define new goals. For Leslie Könnyű, on his golden literary anniversary, this is such a time; and it is also a time for all of us to recognize and appreciate the life and work of a multifaceted talent. Leslie Könnyű has now devoted fifty years to arts and letters and to the causes of political and religious freedom —as a patron of the arts and as a practicing poet, writer, translator, editor and musician. For ten years he was a writer and teacher in his native Hungary; he spent the next five years in Austria, and for the past 35 years he has lived and worked in the United States. It has been said, appropriately, that he started as a teacher in rural Hungary and later became a teacher of Hungarians everywhere. And indeed he is a teacher to all men of good will in the free world. There is time and space here to touch only briefly upon a few highlights of Leslie Konnyu’s remarkable career. Above all, we must recognize the wide scope of his works in poetry and prose. For this purpose I begin with a quotation from a retrospective article by Coloman Bognár published in 1973: [Leslie Konnyu’s] first cultural project was the foundation of a Kossuth Monument in St. Louis. This was followed by the writing of the Hungarians' history in St. Louis and in Missouri. In the Eagles of Two Continents, he presented the story of Hungarian participation in the Civil War in Missouri. In his other book, A History of American Hungarian Literature, he clearly showed that the American Hungarian literature is an organic part of the American culture. In his Modern Magyar Literature, he presented a good summary of this subject. In another book, John Xantus, Hungarian Geographer in America, he threw light on a rarely known chapter of the American Hungarian cultural relationship. Page 6 Lately, he has written books on Hungary’s Geography, and the History of the Hungarian Immigration to the U.S.A.' Leslie Könnyű has been a literary organizer too. Just one example of his editorial ability is the now famous “Hungarian Bouquets” he gathered some years ago — a three-volume anthology of prose, poetry and art by Hungarian poets, writers, educators, clergy and others, published in Hungary with a foreward by Her Royal Highness Catherine of Hapsburg. It was this latter touch, no doubt, along with the collection’s emphasis on religious and patriotic themes, that caused the Communist regime to ban and destroy this work — but not before a set had been smuggled out (via Switzerland) to the editor in America. Another work, more recent, is Professional Hungarian Artists Outside of Hungary (1977), a unique, useful and detailed reference work which Könnyű edited in collaboration with Ernest Gyimesy Kasas. This work illustrates and documents Hungary’s contribution of more than a thousand prominent artists to Western culture. For this book Könnyű received an award from the Italian Universita delle arti. In 1982 there appeared Leslie Konnyu’s multilingual cultural study, Hungarian Transylvania: A Visual Documentary, another unique and profusely illustrated volume, which won a medal from the Transylvanian World Federation. As a patron of the arts, Leslie Könnyű has donated a monument to commemorate the 19th century Hungarian writer Vas Gereben (1823-1868). This monument is situated at the outskirts of Konnyu’s beloved native Tamasi. But Könnyű has recognized American writers also. As the founder of the T.S. Eliot Society in St. Louis, he has commissioned a plaque in Eliot’s memory, and the Society holds regular meetings to honor that poet. Indeed, in crosspollinating American and Hungarian cultures, Könnyű has translated into Hungarian selections from the work of such poets as Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sara Teasdale, Ezra Pound, Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, and others: and his own poetry has been translated into English and other languages by himself and many other poets. “A Poet Looks Back,” The American Hungarian Review. XI, 3-4(1973), p. 43. Prof, and Mrs. László Könnyű As a native St. Louisan, I can appreciate yet another study by Könnyű, his Bicentennial Album titled Acacias: Hungarians in the Mississippi Valley (1976). In this work, as I pointed out in a review, Könnyű has done for the Hungarian settlers in the Midwest what the late John Francis McDermott did for the French and Spanish in several landmark volumes on those cultures. But Konnyu’s approach is somewhat different, for he has done all the research and written all the chapters himself. Leslie Könnyű is a great teacher, by practice and example. But I confess I regard him most highly and dearly as a poet, whose selected work has appeared in many volumes and whose Collected Poems were published in English in 1968. Like his friend and compatriot, Tibor Tollas, Könnyű has held precious the spirit of freedom. Indeed, Leslie Könnyű is the epitome of the long tradition of the poets of freedom — from Villon to Shelley and Andre Chenier — who uphold rights of self-determination and self-administration and the free development of one’s cultural heritage. Leslie Könnyű is a symbol, a rare spirit in our midst. This anniversary is an opportunity for us to appreciate and celebrate that’spirit and that symbol. 50th Year Anniversary Album by László Könnyű 160 pages (50 pictures and drawings of András Össze and Bela Petry) Printed in English and Hungarian Price; $10.00 (includes postage) Can be purchased from: Eighth Hungarian Tribe P.O. Box 637, Ligonier, PA 15658 or American Hungarian Review 5410 Kerth Road, St. Louis, MO 63128 Eighth Hungarian Tribe
