Gyula Illyés

Gyula Illyés (November 2, 1902 – April 15, 1983) was a Hungarian poet and novelist. Born into a poor peasant family, he was educated both in Budapest and in Paris. He was one of the leading "népi" ("working-class") authors, and someone with strong left-wing convinctions.

Early life

He was born the son of Illes Janos (1870-1931) and Ida Kally (1878-1931) in Tolna county. He was their third child and spent his first 9 years at his birthplace. Spent his primary school years on the plain (1908-12) and when his family moved to Simontornyar, he continued his education. Finished high school in a number of places: Dombóvár (1913-14), Bonyhád (1914-16) and the Budapest Munkácsy Mihály street gimnazium (1916-17). In 1916 his parents separated, and he moved to the capital with his mother. He continued senior school at the Izabella Street Kereskedelmi school (1917-21). In 1921 he graduated. From 1918-19 he took part in the Balaton student and youth workers movement, being present at an anti Romanian battle in Szolnok during the Hungarian Republic of Councls. On December 22, 1920 his first poem was published (El ne essél, testvér) anonymously in Népszava.

University years

Studied at the Budapest University's department of languages studying Hungarian and French. Due to illegal political activities he managed to escape to Vienna in December that year, moving on to Berlin and the Rhineland in 1922. He arrived in Paris in April of that year. He worked numerous jobs including as a bookbindere. For a while he studied at the Sorbonne and published his first articles and translations in 1923. He returned home in 1926 after an amnesty. His main forums of activity became "Dokumentum" under director Kassák Lajos and then "Munka."

Early career

Illyés worked for the Phonix Insurance company from 1927-1930. His first critical study appeared in Nyugat in November 1927. From 1928 Nyugat regularly featured his articles and poems. He made friends with Attila József, László Németh, Lőrinc Szabó and József Erdélyi. His first book was also published by Nyugat (Nehéz Föld, 1928). In 1931 he married Juvancz Irma who was a physical education teacher. Illyés took part in the national writers congress in the Soviet Union in 1934. From that year until 1938 he worked with "Válasz", in 1935 with the New Sprited Front, and founded the March Front on March 15 1937. Subsequently became part of the direcorship of Nyugat and advisor to the National Bank, until 1944, on French matters. He divorced his first wife.

War years

During World War II he was associated with the journal Nyugat. In 1939 he married Flóra Kozmuta, with whom he had a daughter in 1940. He became director of the Hungarian Star (October 1941 to March 1944)following the death of Mihály Babits of Nyugat group. He was a fugitive with Németh László from March 1944 in Budapest.

Post war

After the occupation of Hungary in 1945 he became a member of parliament, one of the leaders of the National Peasant Party, withdrawing from public life when the Stalinists rose to power. He was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences from 1945-1949. He was the director of Calasz from 1946 to 1949. In 1948 he withdrew from public life but during the Hungarian revolution of 1956 was active as a director of the Petőfi circle. Later on he made some deals with the Kádárist establishment of Hungary. He died in Budapest.

Works

In his poetry Illyés was a spokesman for the oppressed peasant class. Typical is People of the plain (A puszták népe) of 1936. Greater universality and an appeal for national and individual liberty mark his later work. Illyés Gyula

Nehéz föld (1928)Sarjúrendek (1931) Három öreg (1932) Hősökről beszélnek (1933) Ifjúság (1934) Oroszország (1934) Szálló egek alatt (1935) Petőfi (1936) A puszták népe (1936) Rend a romokban (1937) Magyarok (1938) Külön világban (1939) Ki a magyar? (1939) Lélek és kenyér (1939) Összegyűjtött versei (1940) Csizma az asztalon (1941) Kora tavasz (1941) Bartók (1955)

External links

* [http://www.hunlit.hu/illyesgyula,en Illyés in Hunlit] , the on-line multilingual database of Hungarian Book Foundation on Hungarian literature
* [http://www.kfki.hu/~tezla/tezlahtm/illyes.html Bibliographical Handbook of Hungarian Authors] by Albert Tezla; online var. Orig. vers. published at The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, 1970
* [http://www.erasmuspc.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=159&Itemid=81 CityPoem 'A Sentence about Tyranny' by Gyula Illyés at Erasmuspc, network for cities and culture]