Dezső Kosztolányi

Dezso ( Desiderius ) Kosztolányi of Nemeskosztolány [ dɛʒø ː ː kostola ɲi ] ( born March 29, 1885 in Subotica, Subotica today, Vojvodina, Serbia, † November 3, 1936 in Budapest) was a Hungarian writer, poet, journalist and translator. He was the cousin of the Hungarian writer Géza Csáth.

Life

After Kosztolányi had acquired higher education in his hometown, he moved to Budapest to study literature. At the University he joined acquaintance with later sizes of Hungarian literature, as Mihály Babits, Gyula Juhász, Frigyes Karinthy and Milán Füst.

His studies he broke off, and published in 1920 his first book of poems.

In 1928 he translated Danton's Death by Georg Büchner into Hungarian. He worked on the piece for the Budapest stage and was also instrumental in the staging.

In 1931, he became the first president of the Hungarian PEN Club.

Kosztolányi wrote easily and quickly. He has published numerous newspaper articles and short stories ( among others in Nyugat as well as in the Pester Lloyd), further twelve volumes of poetry and novels. His style is still regarded as a measure of purity and clarity.

From its basic setting Kosztolányi was bourgeois to conservative; he is referred to as the " Hungarian Hugo von Hofmannsthal ".

The kleptomaniac translator

Among literary translators Dezso Kosztolányi has become famous The kleptomaniac translator for his stylistically not -very-good, by the idea but brilliant short story. He describes the translator Gallus, who has been transferred to his kleptomania to be heartily to use when translating to the valuables of the original texts: it is reducing contract sums, ransoms or inheritances by two to four zeros, takes rich matrons in the transfer, the pearl necklaces and mink coats from, to let them stand there with thin silver chains and balloon coats, and the crystal chandeliers brightly lit palaces are lit in translation only by flickering oil lamps.

Works (selection)

In German language are published by him, among other things:

• The Bloody Poet (Hungarian: Nero, a Veres költő ). Translation by Irene Kolbe, Stefan J. Klein. Publisher of the Nation, 1986, ISBN 3-373-00042-4.
• The Kiss novellas in Berlin: Aufbau Verlag, 1981.
• In Hungarian narrator Zurich: Manesseplatz Verlag 1994, ISBN 3-7175-1486-5.

• In paperback, translated by Irene Kolbe: Anna. A maid novel, Fischer paperback publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-596-11998-7.

• Translator: Klaus jewelry, publishing Philipp Reclam jun. Leipzig, 1970.
• Translator: Christina Viragh, Zurich: Manesseplatz -Verlag Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7175-2144-0.
• Translator: Henry Eisterer, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt, 2007, ISBN 978-3-518-22423-6.