Illyés Gyula | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1902-11-02)2 November 1902 Felsőrácegrespuszta, nearSárszentlőrinc,Tolna County |
| Died | 15 April 1983(1983-04-15) (aged 80) |
| Nationality | Hungarian |
| Spouse | Irma Juvancz (married 1931) Flóra Kozmutza (married 1939) |
| Relatives | Father: János Illés Mother: Ida Kálley Daughter: Maria |
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Gyula Illyés bornGyula Illés (2 November 1902 – 15 April 1983) was a Hungarianpoet andnovelist. He was one of the so-callednépi ("from the people") writers, named so because they aimed to show – propelled by strong sociological interest and left-wing convictions – the disadvantageous conditions of their native land.
He was born the son of János Illés (1870 – 1931) and Ida Kállay (1878 – 1931) inTolna County. His father was Catholic, while the Kállays were Calvinists. János was initially a shepherd like his father, then learned the trade of blacksmith, and took jobs in various manors making repairs, and later becoming a supervisor of blacksmiths, stokers and machinists. Ida came from a mainly peasant family, although the Kállays also gave soldiers and preachers to the country. His maternal grandfather was a wheelwright in the manor of Felsőrácegrespuszta. He was their third child and spent his first nine years at his birthplace, where he finished his primary school years (1908 – 1912) and when his family moved toSimontornya, he continued his education at grammar schools there andDombóvár (1913 – 1914) andBonyhád (1914 – 1916). In 1916 his parents separated, and he moved to the capital with his mother. He continued senior high school at theBudapest Munkácsy Mihály street gimnazium (1916 – 1917) and at the Izabella Street Kereskedelmi school (1917 – 1921). In 1921 he graduated. From 1918 to 1919 he took part in various left-wing students and youth workers' movements, being present at an attack on Romanian forces inSzolnok during theHungarian Republic of Councils. On 22 December 1920 his first poem was published (El ne essél, testvér) anonymously in the Social Democrat dailyNépszava.
He began studies at theBudapest University's department of languages studying Hungarian and French. Due to illegal political activities he was forced to escape toVienna in December that year, moving on toBerlin and theRhineland in 1922.
Illyés arrived inParis in April that year; living at 9 Rue Budé, Île Saint-Louis.[1] He did numerous jobs including as abookbinder. For a while he studied at theSorbonne and published his first articles and translations in 1923. He became friends with the Frenchsurrealists, among themPaul Éluard,Tristan Tzara andRené Crevel (each visited him later in Hungary).
During his emigration to Paris, to spare his family members back home he published poems under the name Gyula Illyés (from 1925), and he continued to be published under this pen name, which he took on officially in 1933.
Illyés returned to homeland in 1926 following an amnesty. His main forums of activity becameDokumentum andMunka, periodicals edited by the avant-garde writer and poetLajos Kassák.
Illyés worked for thePhoenix Insurance company from 1927 to 1936, and after its bankruptcy he became press referent to theHungarian National Bank on French agricultural matters (1937 – 1944).
His first critical writing appeared in November 1927 in the reviewNyugat ("Occident") – the most distinguished literary magazine of the time –which from 1928 regularly featured his articles and poems. His first book (Nehéz Föld) was also published byNyugat in 1928.
He made friends withAttila József,László Németh,Lőrinc SzabóJózsef Erdélyi [hu],János Kodolányi andPéter Veres, at the time the leading talents of his generation.
In 1931 he married his first wife, Irma Juvancz, a physical education teacher, whom he later divorced.
Illyés was invited to theSoviet Union in 1934 to take part in the 1st Congress of the Soviet Writers' Union where he metAndré Malraux andBoris Pasternak. From that year he also participated in the editorial work of the reviewVálasz (Answer), the forum of the young "népi" writers.
He was one of the founding members of theMarch Front [hu] (1937 – 1939), a left-wing andanti-fascist movement. Subsequently, he was invited to the editorial board ofNyugat and became a close friend of its editor, the post-symbolist poet and writerMihály Babits.
DuringWorld War II, Illyés was nominated editor-in-chief ofNyugat following the death of Mihály Babits. Having been refused by the authorities to use the nameNyugat for the magazine, he continued to publish the review under a different title:Magyar Csillag ("Hungarian Star").
In 1939 he married Flóra Kozmutza, with whom he had a daughter, Mária.
After theNazi invasion of Hungary in March 1944, Illyés had to go into hiding along withLászló Németh, both being labelled anti-Nazi intellectuals.
He became a member of the parliament ofHungary in 1945, and one of the leaders of the left-wingNational Peasant Party. He withdrew from public life in 1947 as thecommunist takeover of government was approaching. He was a member of theHungarian Academy of Sciences from 1945 to 1949. He directed and edited the reviewVálasz from 1946 to 1949.
Although Gyula lived a reclusive life inTihany and Budapest until the early 1960s, his poetry, prose, theater plays and essays continued to impact Hungarian public and literary life.
On 2 November 1956, during theHungarian revolution of 1956, he published his famous poem, which was not allowed to be republished in Hungary until 1986: "One sentence on tyranny" is a long poem written in 1950.
From the early 1960s he continued to express political, social and moral issues all through his work, but the main themes of his poetry remain love, life and death. Active until his death in April 1983, he published poems, dramas, essays and parts of his diary. His work as a translator is also considerable.
He translated from many languages,French being the most important, but – with the help of rough translations – his volume of translations from the ancientChinese classics remains a milestone.
In his poetry, Illyés was a spokesman for the oppressed peasant class. Typical is "People of thepuszta",A puszták népe, 1936. His later work is marked by a more open universality, as well as an appeal for national and individual liberty.
