Körmendy Kinga: Pilinszky János kéziratos hagyatéka : Ms 5932–Ms 5965, Ms 6006/100–144 (A MTAK kézirattárának katalógusai 22., 1996)

Summary

Summary The literary bequest of János Pilinszky (1921-1981), one of the most remarkable Hungarian poets as well as well-know personality of European literary circles of recent past, was donated by the poet's nephew Péter Kovács in 1989 to the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The manuscripts - often alternative text versions - of poems, drafts and prose works are essential sources for a detailed analysis and for a future critical edition of the poet's works, whereas notes concerning everyday tasks, diaries, fragments of thoughts and ideas, correspondence, drafts of letters form a unique collection of documents denoting the determinant internal and external experiences shaping his oeuvre and contributing to a manifold approach of Pilinszky's creative genius. The habitual method of arranging manuscripts of literary remains - a classification according to genres - was impossible in the case of Pilinszky's bequest, since most of his writtings of diverse kinds were noted in exercise-books without any logical order. For this reason to help researchers' orientation the catalogue gives a detailed description of these exercise-books indicating the page number of the various kinds of notes of their content. We also indicated the variant text versions of poems and prose writings. The bequest contains in addition the poet's correspondence - also a number letters written by him in rough draft - manuscripts sent to him for criticism, photographs, works of fine arts, printed matter and tapes. The Table of Contents and illustrations displaying the variety of János Pilinszky's bequest help the researchers' orientation.