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Endre Ady’s Summons to National Regeneration in Hungary, 1900-1919

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Lee Congdon
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Extract

In 1896 Hungarians celebrated the one thousandth anniversary of their conquest of the Central European Plains. Intoxicated with the heady wine of nationalism, they seemed almost to believe that their millennium prefigured the thousand-year reign of Christ prophesied in the book of Revelation. Public officials loudly proclaimed Hungary to be the best of all possible worlds and extolled the virtues of patriotism in the most extravagant terms. Publicists eulogized the Hungarian national genius and lamented that all of Eastern Europe was not ruled by Magyars. The most enthusiastic patriots confidently predicted yet another thousand years of national glory.

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Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , June 1974 , pp. 302 - 322
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1974

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References

1. For an outstanding study of Széchenyi see George, Barany, Stephen Széchenyi and the Awakening of Hungarian Nationalism, 1791-1841 (Princeton, 1968).Google Scholar

2. Macartney, C. A., Hungary : A Short History (Chicago, 1962), p. 136.Google Scholar

3. The Nationalities Law of December 1, 1868, had been sponsored by Deák and Eötvös. While the law emphasized the indivisibility of the Hungarian state and identified Magyar as the official language of government and administration, it made significant concessions to the non-Magyar nationalities, particularly with regard to the use of non- Magyar languages. For the complete text of this law (1868 : XLIV) see Kemény, G. Gábor, ed., Iratok a nemzetiségi kérdés történetéhes Magyarországon a dualizmus korában, I : 1867-1892 (Budapest, 1952), pp. 162–67 Google Scholar. For an English translation see Viator, Scotus [R. W. Seton-Watson], Racial Problems in Hungary (London, 1908), pp. 429–33.Google Scholar

4. Members of that generation included Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Sándor Ferenczi, György (Georg) Lukács, Béla Balázs, Arnold Hauser, Karl Mannheim, Karl and Michael Polányi, and Oszkár Jászi.

5. Because Hungary’s lyricists had been traditionally the pride of the nation, the sterility of Hungarian poetry at this time was particularly conspicuous. According to the perceptive critic and literary historian Aladár Schöpflin (1872-1950), “the manner of our great classical poets became conventional in [fin de siécle] patriotic poetry. Generally, there was more patriotism … than poetry in this work.” See A magyar irodalom története a XX. században (Budapest, 1937), p. 57. Yet despite the decline of Hungarian literary life, Zsolt Beöthy (professor of aesthetics and Hungarian literature at Budapest University) and other official ideologists clung resolutely to the belief that Western literature was inimical to the Magyar spirit.

6. By “counterculture” I do not mean an anarchistic life-style; the so-called American counterculture is essentially an anticultural movement. In contrast to its contemporary misuse, “counterculture” is the appropriate term for the work of the rebel Hungarian intelligentsia. In support of my contention that two cultures, one official and one unofficial, existed side by side in early twentieth-century Hungary, I should point out that until the revolutions of 1918-19, members of the counterculture were ignored by official cultural organizations and denied appointment to the faculty of Budapest University. The only book to treat the counterculture as a whole is Horváth, Zoltán, Magyar szásadforduló : A második reformnetnzedéek története (1896-1914) (Budapest, 1961)Google Scholar. For a slightly abridged German translation of this work see Die Jahrhundertwende in Ungarn : Geschichte der zweiten Reformgeneration (1896-1914), trans. Géza Engl (Neuwied am Rhein, 1966).

7. Because sociology was not a recognized academic discipline at Budapest University, the editors of Huszadik Század organized a Sociological Society and a Free School to promote the scientific study of society.

8. These great composers consciously identified themselves with the broader cultural revival; Kodály, for example, frequently contributed music criticism to Nyugat.

9. The music establishment took a dim view of the Bartók-Kodály revolt and pointedly ignored the work of the young composers. Frustrated by this official antagonism, Bartók and Kodály formed a countercultural organization of composers and musicians to promote their “new music.” Bartók recalled the experiment in an autobiographical essay he wrote in 1921 : “Our latest orchestral works were performed imperfectly, without a sympathetic conductor or a capable orchestra. As the struggle [for the new music] intensified, several young musicians, including Kodály and myself, tried to establish a New Hungarian Music Association (in 1911). The principal aim of the venture was to organize an independent concert orchestra which would perform all music, traditional, modern, and even contemporary, in an honest manner.” Bartók, Béla, Levelek, Fényképek, Kéziratok, Kották, ed. Demény, János (Budapest, 1948), p. 99.Google Scholar

10. Hungarian art reflected the official ideology no less than Hungarian literature and music. Paintings of the Holy Family and portrayals of glorious historical events proliferated. The Fine Arts Society attacked Western painters, in particular the French impressionists, for their “decadence, ” and applauded Hungarian painters like Gyula Benczur (1844-1920), a competent draftsman whose work was unambiguously representational. For a good introduction to the revival in art see Krisztina, Passuth, A Nyolcak festészete (Budapest, 1967)Google Scholar.

11. Cited in Katona, Ferenc and Dénes, Tibor, A Thália története (1904-1908) (Budapest, 1954), p. 5.Google Scholar

12. The literature on Ady is enormous, but almost exclusively in Hungarian. Only the most important attempts to assess the poet's impact on Hungarian life can be mentioned here. Szekfű, Gyula, Három nemzedék és ami utána következik (Budapest, 1935)Google Scholar, compares Ady unfavorably with István Tisza. Ady, Lajos’s Ady Endre (Budapest, 1923)Google Scholar is a memoir by Ady’s conservative brother. Bölöni, György, Az igasi Ady (Paris, 1934)Google Scholar, emphasizes the revolutionary character of Ady’s life and work. József Révai’s Ady (Budapest, 1945) is the standard Marxist study. In Western languages see Lukács, György, “The Importance and Influence of Ady,” New Hungarian Quarterly, 10, no. 35 (1969) : 56–63Google Scholar; Reményi, Joseph, “Endre Ady, Apocalyptic Poet, 1877-1919,” in Hungarian Writers and Literature, ed. Molnar, August J. (New Brunswick, N.J., 1964), pp. 193–212Google Scholar; and Karátson, André, Le Symbolisme en Hongrie (Paris, 1969)Google Scholar. The only major collection of Ady’s poems in English is Endre Ady, Poems, trans. Anton N. Nyerges (Buffalo, 1969).

13. Oszkár Jászi, “Egy verseskönyvről, ” Világ, Feb. 15, 1914, p. 1. Oszkár Jászi (1875-1957) was the editor of Huszadik Század and an indefatigable crusader for the new Hungary. Perhaps Anna Lesznai, Jázi’s first wife, has described most clearly the relationship between the poet and the sociologist : “For many years they worked with different means for precisely the same goal. They never conflicted with each other. They progressed on their respective paths like parallel lines which converge in infinity.” See Anna Lesznai, Kezdetben volt a kert, 2 vols. (Budapest, 1966), 2 : 465. Sándor Petőfi (1823-49) was the great poet-martyr of Hungary’s 1848-49 revolution.

14. Because Érmindszent’s eight hundred inhabitants included Rumanians and Germans as well as Hungarians, Ady was introduced to Hungary’s nationalities problem early in life.

15. Endre Ady, Költésset és forradalom (cited hereafter as KF), ed. József Varga (Budapest, 1969), pp. 178-79. For this volume, Varga collected Ady’s most important essays and articles.

16. Endre, Ady, Összes prózai művei, vol. 4, ed. Földessy, Gyula and Király, István (Budapest, 1964), p. 182.Google Scholar

17. Endre, Ady, Válogatott levelei, ed. Belia, György (Budapest, 1956), p. 36.Google Scholar

18. Endre, Ady, A fekete lobogó, ed. Földessy, Gyula and Király, István (Budapest, 1952), pp. 23–24.Google Scholar

19. Ady re-created the surrounding circumstances imaginatively in a short story entitled “Rozália Mihályi’s Kiss.” Endre Ady, Összes novellái, ed. Endre Bustya (Budapest, 1961), pp. 841-48.

20. Bölöni, As igazi Ady, p. 96.

21. Sik, Sándor, Gárdonyi, Ady, Prohászka : Lálek ás forma a századforduló irodalmában (Budapest, n.d.), p. 152 Google Scholar; Király, István, Ady Endre, 2 vols. (Budapest, 1970), 1 : 239.Google Scholar

22. Varga, József, Ady Endre : Pályakép-vázlat (Budapest, 1966), p. 576.Google Scholar

23. Endre, Ady, Összes versei (cited hereafter as ÖV), ed. Földessy, Gyula (Budapest, 1967), p. 7 Google Scholar. When the Hungarians occupied their present homeland in 896, they entered the territory by way of the Verecke Pass through the Carpathians. Dévény was Hungary’s westernmost frontier township at the turn of the century.

24. The gentry castigated as “un-Magyar” any idea or activity that might undermine their social and political supremacy. For a list of “un-Magyar” ideas and activities compiled by a leading member of the counterculture see Ignotus, Válogatott irásai, selected by Aladár Komlós (Budapest, 1969), pp. 617-18.

25. The “Hortobagy” is the most celebrated and most representative region of the Great Hungarian Plain (Alföld). It is regarded by Hungarians as the heart of their homeland.

26. By the end of the nineteenth century the Tisza River (often called the “Magyar River” because it ran its course almost completely within Hungary’s borders) had become a symbol of official Hungary’s provincialism and backwardness. Király, Ady Endre, 1 : 176-77.

27. In 1000 or 1001 King István I made Christianity the official religion of Hungary. For his acceptance and defense of the faith, István was canonized in 1083.

28. Many of official Hungary’s most militant “Magyarizers” were ethnically of German lineage.

29. Árpád (d. 907), the founder of Hungary’s first dynasty, united the nomadic Magyar tribes and led them into their European homeland. Werbőczi (1458-1541) compiled the Tripartitum, a codification of Hungarian common law (never formally promulgated, but universally regarded as authoritative) that proclaimed the complete legal equality of all nobles and reaffirmed the servitude of the peasantry.

30. Cited in Vezér, Erzsébet, Ady Endre, Arcok és vallomások (Budapest, 1971), p. 86.Google Scholar

31. Ady, Poems, trans. Nyerges, p. 172 (reprinted by permission of the translator).

32. Ibid., p. 110. I have modified Nyerges’s translation.

33. György Dózsa (1475—1514), a Szekler nobleman and professional soldier, led the most serious peasant rebellion in Hungary’s history. Appointed in 1514 to organize a crusade against the Turks, he gathered a great peasant army. But the peasants hated the Magyar landlords more than they hated the Turks, and under Dózsa’s able leadership they began a war of extermination against the nobility. For a time the rebels even threatened to take Buda. Finally, with the aid of foreign mercenaries, the authorities put down the revolt and took savage reprisals against Dózsa and his followers.

34. Ady, Poems, trans. Nyerges, p. 418 (reprinted by permission of the translator).

35. Vezér, Erzsébet, “Ismeretlen Ady-cikk : Az 1909-es Pester Lloydban,” Magyar Nemzet, Jan. 27, 1966, p. 4.Google Scholar

36. Consider the titles of two of Ady’s poetry collections : I Would Like To Be Loved (Szeretném ha sseretnének, 1909), and Who Has Seen Me? (Ki Iátott engeml, 1914). 37. Endre, Ady, “Nietzsche és Zarathustra,” Budapesti Napló, Mar. 5, 1908, p. 2.Google Scholar

38. Endre, Ady, As uj Hellász (Budapest, 1920), pp. 47–48.Google Scholar

39. Endre, Ady, “Távol a csatatértő1 : Madarak és pogányok,” Világ, Aug. 15, 1915, p. 15.Google Scholar

40. Ady, ÖV, pp. 345, 920, 894, 529.

41. Babits, Mihály, “Tanulmány Adyró1,” Nyugat, 13 (1920) : 140.Google Scholar

42. The official ideology became even more explicit during the interwar years. Admiral Horthy was said to rule over “Christian-National” Hungary.

43. A reference to the German ethnic origin of many of the proponents of Magyarization.

44. Ady, Poems, trans. Nyerges, p. 112 (reprinted by permission of the translator).

45. From the Latin crux—crucifer (crusader). In Hungary, kuruc meant “rebel, “ because Dózsa’s “crusaders” had rebelled against the nobility.

46. For an excellent study of Csokonai and his era see George, Barany, “Hoping Against Hope : The Enlightened Age in Hungary,” American Historical Review, 76, no. 2 (1971) : 319–57.Google Scholar

47. Endre, Ady, Az irodalomról, ed. Varga, József and Vezér, Erzsébet (Budapest, 1961), p. 342.Google Scholar

48. In 1899 Ady wrote : “Those lords who now proudly ‘remember, ’ who now make good use of the great Petofi's human capital, scorned the poor exalted man, the pale, impoverished poet, while he lived.” Válogatott cikkei es tanulmányai, ed. Gyula Földessy (Budapest, 1954), p. 15.

49. Endre Ady, “Vallás és demokrácia, ” Világ, June 29, 1916, p. 9.

50. To Ady, nationalism was Hungary’s and Europe’s most terrifying nightmare, the source of incalculable human misery : “How much historical perfidy there has been because of it; peoples set against peoples, enlightenment extinguished, liberty trampled upon. One wonders how mankind has come as far as it has.” Összes prózai művei, vol. 6, ed. Gyula Földessy and István Király (Budapest, 1966), p. 117.

51. Endre Ady, Jóslások Magyarországról 61 : Tanulmányok és jegyzetek a magyar sorskérdékről, ed. Géza Féja (Budapest, [1936]), p. 145.

52. Miksa Fenyő, Följegyzések a ‘Nyugat’ folyóiratról is kőrnyékéről (n.p., 1960), p. 65.

53. Schöpflin, A magyar irodalom története, p. 127.

54. Lesznai, Kezdetben volt a kert, 2 : 251.

55. Cited in Varga, Ady Endre, p. 266.

56. Renaissance was a short-lived journal (1910-11) that was consciously designed to serve the national regeneration movement, as Nyugat served the counterculture. With Ady, Oszkár Jászi, and György Lukács as major contributors, the journal exercised considerable influence on the Hungarian intelligentsia before it expired because of a lack of funds.

57. Bálint Balassa (1554-94) was the first Hungarian lyric poet of European standing. A student of Western humanist literature, Balassa was inspired principally by Magyar folk poetry.

58. Ady, KF, p. 217.

59. Hatvany subsequently changed his mind. Indeed, he is best known for his voluminous writings on Ady.

60. Published in Ady, Válogatott levelei, pp. 212-13.

61. Ady, KF, p. 220. In a letter to Hatvany dated November 24-26, 1908, Ady wrote : “I am not a Bohemian. I am—how painful it is to write such a banality—Endre Ady” (Válogatott levelei, p. 223).

62. Ady, Poems, trans. Nyerges, p. 445 (reprinted by permission of the translator).

63. Having identified himself as the symbol of the new Hungary, Ady chose Tisza (1861-1918), unquestionably Hungary’s most powerful and talented political leader in the first two decades of the twentieth century, as the symbol of the old. The poet described this strong-willed man (and thus, the old Hungary) as “dreary and gaunt, ” “a savage, callous lunatic, ” and “a warmongering firebrand” (As irodalomról, p. 343; öV, p. 634).

64. Ady called her csacsi (“little silly”), then “Csacsika” or “Csacsinszka, ” and finally “Csinszka” (Bölöni, As igazi Ady, p. 290).

65. Léda had become less patient with her lover’s flagrant infidelities. Ady, in turn, seemed to need to reassert his independence and self-sufficiency.

66. Ady wrote a series of newspaper articles under this title.

67. At such a time, according to Ady, those whose unhappiness derived solely from personal difficulties were truly fortunate. öV, p. 805.

68. Ady, öV, pp. 949-50.

69. Ady read in his Hungarian translation of the Bible daily and was thoroughly familiar with the ancient book’s stories and language.

70. Lorant Hegedüs, Ady és Tisza (Budapest, [1940]), p. 91. See Matt. 27 : 46 : “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani ? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?“

71. Oszkár Jászi, “Ady és a magyar jövő, ” Huszadik Század, August 1919 (“Adyszám“), p. 2

72. On November 19, 1918, Károlyi appointed a delegation to deliver official governmental greetings to Ady, then mortally ill. Drafted by Lajos Hatvany, the document concluded : “… it is our earnest wish, Endre Ady, our brother, our friend, our dear Bandi [a familiar form of ‘Endre’], that as soon as you are well, you will be able to join us on that path which you first broke. Then we, your faithful followers, can proceed joyfully, as in bygone days, in your footsteps, always in your footsteps alone.” See Lajos, Hatvany, Ady, 2 vols. (Budapest, 1959), 1 : 309 Google Scholar. Kun had been tutored by Ady when both were students at Zilah and had acknowledged the poet’s influence in his prewar journalistic articles. See Tőkés, Rudolf L., Béla Kun and the Hungarian Soviet Republic (New York, 1967), p. 1967 Google Scholar, and Bölöni, Az igazi Ady, p. 175.