Hungarian politician and writer (1790?1838)
Ferenc Kolcsey
(archaically English:
Francis Kolcsey
,
[1]
8 August 1790 in
Sz?demeter
? 24 August 1838) was a
Hungarian
poet, literary critic, orator, and politician, noted for his support of the
liberal current
in
Hungary
regarding the politics involving the
Austrian Empire
. He wrote
Himnusz
, the national anthem of Hungary in 1823.
Biography
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]
Kolcsey was born in
Sz?demeter
,
Hungary
(now
S?uca
,
Romania
). He was
orphaned
at an early age and handicapped by the loss of an eye to
smallpox
. At age fifteen, he made the acquaintance of
Ferenc Kazinczy
and adopted his linguistic reforms. In 1809 Kolcsey went to
Pest
and became a
notary
to the
Royal
board. He was disenchanted with the office, and, while in
Szatmarcseke
, he devoted his time to aesthetical study,
poetry
, criticism, and the defense of Kazinczy's theories.
Kolcsey's early metrical pieces contributed to the
Transylvanian Museum
did not attract much attention, while his severe criticisms of
Mihaly Csokonai Vitez
,
Janos Kis
, and especially
Daniel Berzsenyi
, published in 1817, rendered him very unpopular. From 1821 to 1826 he published many separate poems of great beauty in the
Aurora, Hebe, Aspasia
, and other magazines of polite
literature
. He joined
Pal Szemere
in a new periodical, styled
Elet es Literatura
(
Life and Literature
), which appeared from 1826 to 1829, in 4 vols., and gained for Kolcsey the highest reputation as a critical writer.
From 1832 to 1835 he sat in the
Hungarian Diet
, where his extreme
liberal
views and his eloquence soon rendered him famous as a
parliamentary
leader. Elected on 17 November 1830 a member of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
, he took part in its first grand meeting; in 1832, he delivered his famous oration on Kazinczy, and in 1836 that on his former opponent Daniel Berzsenyi. In 1838, when the opposition leader
Miklos Wesselenyi
was thrown into prison upon a disputed charge of
treason
, Kolcsey conducted his defense with noted eloquence, but without success. He died about a week afterwards at Szatmarcseke, from internal inflammation.
Kolcsey's strong moral sense and deep devotion to his country are reflected in his poems, his often severe but masterly literary criticism, and his funeral orations and parliamentary speeches. His collected works, in 6 volumes, were published at Pest, 1840?1848, and his journal of the Diet of 1832?1836 appeared in 1848.
The first collected edition of all his works appeared in 1886?87.
A
monument
erected to the memory of Kolcsey was unveiled at
Szatmarnemeti
on 25 September 1864.
His poem
Himnusz
(1823), evoking the glory of Hungary's past, became the
national anthem
of Hungary.
Personal life
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Kolcsey never married and had no documented relationships; based on some of the intimate letters Kolcsey wrote to his male contemporaries,
literary historian
Krisztian Nyary theorized that Kolcsey may have been
homosexual
.
[3]
Literary historian Istvan Margocsy in
Magyar Narancs
and Writer Nora Szendi in
Hvg.hu
, disagreed with these claims. Margocsy wrote, "I have a problem with this, Krisztian, that you present assumptions as true stories. Love is the most mysterious phenomenon in the world, and telling rounded stories about the complicated emotional and sexual relationships of people who lived long ago is extremely risky" while Szendi wrote, "Krisztian Nyary treats it as a fact that the author of the Anthem felt a burning love for a man, even though this cannot be proven at all based on the customs and language of the time, claims our literary researcher. The kiss between men appears several times in various correspondences from the Reformation period, which does not mean, however, that the characters were gay."
[4]
[5]
Selected works
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- Vanitatum Vanitas
1823.
- Himnusz
1823. The national anthem of Hungary
- Huszt
1831. Epigram
Honors
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- Ferenc Kolcsey stamp were issued by Hungary on 5 May 1937.
- On 3 August 1990 another postage stamp was issued.
References
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External links
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The list is by chronological order.
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Early sources
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14th century
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15th century
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16th ? 17th century
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17th century
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18th century
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18th ? 19th century
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19th century
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19th ? 20th century
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20th century
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20th ? 21st century
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Contemporary
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International
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National
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Academics
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People
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Other
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