Light within the Shade: Eight Hundred Years of Hungarian Poetry

by Zsuzsanna Ozsváth (Editor), Frederick Turner (Editor)

The pure verbal energy characterizing Hungarian poetry may be regarded as one of the most striking components of Hungarian culture. More than 800 years ago, under the inspiration of classical and medieval Latin poetry, Hungarian poets began to craft a rich chain of poetic designs, much of it in response to the country’s cataclysmic history. With precision, depth, and great intensity, these verses give accounts of their authors’ vision of themselves as participants in history and their most personal experience in the world. Light within the Shade includes 135 of the most important Hungarian poems ranging from the fourteenth to the twenty-first century. Organized in chronological order, the poems are followed by an essay by Ozsváth providing the historical, biographical, and cultural background of the poets and the poetry. The book concludes with Turner’s essay on the special thematic and literary qualities of Hungarian poetry, as well as notes on translation practices. This essential volume exposes English-speaking readers to Hungarian poetry’s artistic achievement in history and culture, its evolutionary development as a tradition, and its significance within the context of world literature.

Genres: Poetry

296 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2014

About the author

Zsuzsanna Ozsváth is Director of the Holocaust Studies Program. She has published a number of articles, dealing with aesthetic and ethical issues in French, German, and Hungarian literature as well as with the relationship between art and totalitarian ideology. Since the eighties, she has undertaken several translation projects and worked on various branches of Holocaust Studies.

(from http://www.utdallas.edu/ah/people/fac...)

Reviews

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light Within the Shade: Seven Hundred Years of Hungarian Poetry compiled by Zsuzsanna Ozsvath is anthology of Hungarian Poetry. The poems range from early Middle Ages poetry to the modern. There is a smooth transition from the Medieval to the Romantic Era and then just as smoothly into the modern era. Throughout the collection there are subtle and not so subtle reminders of patriotism and national identity. Although I was brought up in a Slavic neighborhood, and not Hungarian, there are many similarities in the Eastern European traditions: the poem of St. Blaise,for example.

What I did find most interesting is more historical than cultural. The reader would be hard pressed to find references to World War I where Hungaria, along with the other half of the dual monarchy Austria, played a major role. World War II and the communist takeover and fall do not play a major role. I do understand that art and history are separate entities, but usually there is some influence. Again with with collection as with any poetry translated into another language, the translators did an outstanding job of capturing the spirit and style of the poems in their translations.

Light Within the Shade is a welcome addition to any European poetry shelf. Like most anthologies it gives a reader a taste of several styles and a feeling for the literature. It is by no means comprehensive but will give the reader a starting place for a more detailed study in a particular period or poet. Overall Light Within the Shade an interesting examination of the culture and poetry of Hungary.