Magda Szabó (5 October 1917 – 19 November 2007) was aHungarian novelist. Doctor of philology, she also wrotedramas,essays, studies,memoirs, poetry and children's literature. She was a founding member of theDigital Literary Academy [hu], an online digital repository of Hungarian literature. She is the most translated Hungarian author, with publications in 42 countries and over 30 languages.[1][2]
Magda Szabó was born inDebrecen,Austria-Hungary in 1917.[3] Her father, Elek Szabó (1879–1959), an academic and public official, taught her to speakLatin fluently from childhood, gave her the foundation of her extensive knowledge of European antiquity and an appreciation ofancient Roman andGreek history and literature. Her mother, Lenke Jablonczay (1884–1967), was herself a writer, although her works were never published. The influence and example of her parents played an important part in Szabó’s life. Storytelling and playing theatre were everyday activities in her childhood, both with her parents and by herself.[4]
Szabó graduated from secondary school in 1935 in the Dóczy Institute for Girls’ Education of Debrecen (todayDóczy Gymnasium of the Reformed College of Debrecen [hu]), where she had studied for twelve years. She studied to become a teacher of Hungarian and Latin at the István Tisza Hungarian Royal University of Science (todayUniversity of Debrecen), graduating in 1940. She rarely commented on her tertiary education, except for stating that she considered it to have been ‘conservative’ and ‘old-fashioned’, and that she received little support to develop as a writer. She wrote herthesis on cosmetic practices in ancient Rome. She referred to this as a doctoral dissertation, butliterary historian Endre Bakó claims not to have found documentation of Szabó pursuing adoctorate.[4]
Multiple books by Szabó areautofictional (Ókut/‘The Ancient Well’, 1970; Régimódi történet/‘Old-Fashioned Story’, 1977; Für Elise, 2002). Their (unacknowledged) fictional elements, which are incompatible with each other, make details of Szabó’s personal life, childhood, and family relationships difficult to ascertain.[4]
Szabó began her writing career as a poet and in 1947 she published her first book ofpoetry,Bárány ("Lamb"), which was followed byVissza az emberig ("Back to the Human") in 1949.[6] In 1949 she was awarded theBaumgarten Prize, which was immediately withdrawn when Szabó was labelled an enemy to theCommunist Party.[7] She was dismissed from the Ministry in the same year.[7] TheStalinist era from 1949 to 1956 censored any literature, such as Szabó's work, that did not conform tosocialist realism.[8] Since her husband was also censored by the communist regime, she was forced to teach in aCalvinist girls' school until 1959.[8][1][9]
She wrote her firstnovel,Freskó ("Fresco") during these years, and it was published in 1958.[6] The novel tells the story of a puritan family coming together for a funeral, and examines questions of hypocrisy andHungarian history.[2] In the same year, she published another book of poetry,Bárány Boldizsár ("Lawrence the Lamb"), and a novel for younger female readers,Mondják meg Zsófikának (translated into English as "Tell Sally ...").[2]
Az őz ("The Fawn"), published in 1959, is a novel centred around an actress and her struggle to overcome a difficult, impoverished childhood.[1] In this novel, Szabó effectively portrays the psychological, internal world of the modern woman.[1] In 1961 and 1962, Szabó published two more novels for young women,Álarcosbál ("Masked Ball") andSzületésnap ("Birthday") respectively.[6][1]Pilátus ("Iza's Ballad"), the story of a female doctor and her relationship with her mother, was published in 1963.[10]Tündér Lala ("Lara the Fairy"), her 1965 novel, is one of the most popularnovels for children written in Hungarian.[6][2] In 1969, she publishedKatalin utca ("Katalin Street"), arealistic depiction of post-World War II life.[1] Her most widely read novelAbigél ("Abigail", 1970) is anadventure story about a young girl living in a Calvinist girls-only school in eastern Hungary duringWorld War II. The novel's success resulted in aTV series, produced in 1978;[1] the novel was also adapted into a musical that premiered in March 2008. In 1971, Szabó began a series ofautobiographical works, which depict her family history. The first of this series is the short novel,Ókút ("The Ancient Well"), followed byRégimódi történet ("Old-Fashioned Story").[1][2] In 2002, Szabó continued this autobiographical series withFür Elise, a recollection of the author's life from 1917 to 1935.[1] Today, this is one of her most popular works in Hungarian.[1]
In 1975, Szabó published a collection of plays titledAz órák és a farkasok ("The Wolf Hours").[2] She published two more dramas in 1984,Erőnk szerint ("According to Our Strength") andBéla Király ("King Béla").[2]
Her novelAz ajtó (The Door) was published in 1987 and would become one of her most famous works worldwide.[1] The novel revolves around the relationship between two women, one a prominent Hungarian writer much like Szabó herself, and the other her cryptic housekeeper.[1]Claire Messud writes in theNew York Times that readingThe Door, has completely changed her outlook on life whileCynthia Zarin, contributor toThe New Yorker, calls it "a bone-shaking book."[7]The Door was translated into English in 1995 by Stefan Draughon and again in 2005 byLen Rix.[11]
Lucy Jeffery discusses how Szabó’s descriptions of the domestic inIza's Ballad,Katalin Street, andThe Door convey the impact of Hungary’s troubled political history on the concept of the home/homeland. Jeffery suggests that 'as Szabó interweaves politics, creativity, and the domestic, her novels become politically motivated acts of breaking an enforced silence.'[12] In their discussion of Szabó's well-known novelAbigél, Lucy Jeffery and Anna Váradi highlight the importance of the identity of the Hungarian nation to Szabó, arguing that it is one of the novelists prevailing themes. Jeffery and Váradi conclude their article by remarking that 'InAbigél, Szabó demonstrates that in the wake of Trianon, negotiations between the distinctiveness of Hungarian cultural identity on the one hand and a uniform, systematised global space on the other produce divisive and inconclusive results that lead to a split definition of Hungary as Nagymagyarország and Hungary as Magyarország.'[13]
Az őz (1959).The Fawn, trans. Kathleen Szasz (J. Cape, 1963; Knopf, 1963); later by Len Rix (New York Review Books, 2023).
Disznótor (1960).Night of the Pig-Killing, trans. Kathleen Szasz (J. Cape, 1965; Knopf, 1966).[15]
Pilátus (1963).Iza's Ballad, trans.George Szirtes (Harvill Secker, 2014; New York Review Books, 2016).
Katalin utca (1969).Katalin Street, trans. Agnes Farkas Smith (Kids 4 Kids, 2005); later byLen Rix (New York Review Books, 2017).
Abigél (1970).Abigail, trans.Len Rix (New York Review Books, 2020).[16]
Az ajtó (1987).The Door, trans. Stefan Draughon (East European Monographs, 1995); later byLen Rix (Harvill Press, 2005; New York Review Books, 2015).[11]
2003: a French translation of "The Door" by Chantal Philippe is awarded thePrix Femina étranger, a French literary award, for the best foreign novel
Abigél was chosen as the sixth most popular novel in the Hungarian version ofBig Read.[7] Three more of her novels appeared in the top 100:Für Elise,An Old-Fashioned Story andThe Door.[7]
^Jeffery, Lucy ‘Magda Szabó: Finding Home in the Homeland in Post-1956 Hungary’,[sic] – a journal of literature, culture and literary translation, 11.3 Changing Pieces (2020), 1-23https://www.sic-journal.org/Article/Index/641
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