Mihály Babits

Mihály Babits
See also: Babics
The native form of this personal name is Babits Mihály. This article uses the Western name order.
Babits Mihály
Born November 26, 1883(1883-11-26)
Szekszárd
Died August 4, 1941(1941-08-04) (aged 57)
Budapest
Nationality Hungarian
Period 1900–1941
Genres Poetry, Short stories, Novels
Literary history
Essays, lyric poetry
Spouse(s) Ilona Tanner (pen name: Sophie Török)
Relative(s) Mother: Auróra Kelemen
Father: Mihály Babits

Mihály Babits (pronounced: Mihaai Babich) (November 26, 1883, Szekszárd – August 4, 1941) was a Hungarian poet, writer and translator.

Biography

Babits was born in Szekszárd. He studied at the University of Budapest from 1901 to 1905, where he met Dezső Kosztolányi and Gyula Juhász. He worked to become a teacher and taught at schools in Baja (1905 – 1906), Szeged (1906–1908), Fogaras (1908 – 1911), Újpest (1911), and Budapest (1912 – 1918).

His reputation for his poems in the literary life started in 1908.

He made a trip to Italy in the same year, which made him interested in Dante; he made several other trips in later years. This experience led him to translate Dante's Divine Comedy (Hell, 1913, Purgatory, 1920, and Paradise, 1923).

Briefly after the Hungarian Revolution of 1919 he became a Professor of Foreign Literature and modern Hungarian literature at Eötvös Loránd University, but was soon removed for his pacifism after the revolutionary government fell.

In 1911, he became a staff writer on the magazine Nyugat.

In 1921 married Ilona Tanner, who later published poetry under the name Sophie Török. Two years later he moved to Esztergom. In 1927 he became a member of the Kisfaludy Társaság (Kisfaludy Society) and in the same year he was made a trustee of the Baumgarten Prize.

He became the editor-in-chief of Nyugat in 1929 (sharing the role until 1933 with Zsigmond Móricz), a position he held until his death.

In 1937, he was diagnosed as having laryngeal cancer. He died in Budapest in 1941.

Work

Babits is best known for his lyric poetry, influenced by classical and English forms. He also wrote essays and translated much from English, French, German, Greek, Italian, and Latin.

External links


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