Mihály Babits (; 26 November 1883 – 4 August 1941) was a Hungarian poet, writer, essayist, and translator. His poems are well known for their intense religious themes. His novels such as “The Children of Death” (1927) explore psychological problems.

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 (1905–06), Szeged (1906–08), Fogaras (1908–11), Újpest (1911), and

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

(1912–18). His reputation for his poems in the literary life started in 1908. He made a trip to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in the same year, which made him interested in

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

; he made several other trips in later years. This experience led him to translate Dante's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poetry, narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of ...

'' (''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 the University of Budapest, but was soon removed for his pacifism after the revolutionary government fell. In 1911, he became a staff writer on the magazine '' Nyugat''. Babits' 1918 novel ''The Nightmare'' (also known as ''King's Stork'') is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

novel about a split personality influenced by Freudian psychology. His 1933 novel '' Pilot Elza or the Perfect Society'' (Hungarian: ''Elza pilóta, vagy a tökéletes társadalom)'' is set in a dystopian future. In 1921 married , 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 Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. There is a museum in Szekszárd showcasing Mihály Babits's work and life, as well as a memorial building in Esztergom.Babits Mihály Emlékház
''(the English-language version is under construction)'' His brother István Babits occupied the house at Szekszárd most of the time, with his two sons: István and Tibor. A bilingual selection of his poems was published in 1988 and in 1994, titled '' 21 Poems'' (''21 vers''), translated by István Tótfalusi ( Maecenas).

Notes

External links

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His poem The Danaids in English

George F. Cushing: Mihály Babits: "All Great Poets Are Decadent"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Babits, Mihaly 1883 births 1941 deaths People from Szekszárd Hungarian male poets Translators to Hungarian Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Hungarian Esperantists Hungarian science fiction writers Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery 20th-century Hungarian poets 20th-century Hungarian translators 20th-century Hungarian male writers Deaths from laryngeal cancer Deaths from cancer in Hungary English–Hungarian translators Translators of William Shakespeare French–Hungarian translators German–Hungarian translators Translators of Dante Alighieri Translators of Edgar Allan Poe