Hungarian Writers in the 1956 Revolution

Szegedy-Maszák, Mihály (2006) Hungarian Writers in the 1956 Revolution. Hungarian Studies, 20 (1). pp. 75-82. ISSN 0236-6568

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Abstract

My intention is to reexamine some of the documents of the Hungarian revolution that contain statements by Hungarian writers. On October 26 a two-page pamphlet appeared. Its title - 'Immovably' - referred to Vörösmarty's 'Appeal'. The poems by István Sinka and Ferenc Jankovich, as well as the short essay by the Transylvanian-born author Áron Tamási represented the values of the 'Populist' movement of the interwar period. The texts of the November issue of 'Literary Newsletter' were by a wider range of writers. While most of the poems had been composed in the early 1950s, including 'One Sentence on Tyranny' by Gyula Illyés and 'The Dictator' by Lajos Kassák, the essays by Tibor Déry, László Németh, and Lőrinc Szabó were inspired by the uprising. The third document I wish to examine is the collective statement issued by the Writers' Association on December 28th. Since my paper will focus not on aesthetic values but on political views, I will not exclude texts by mediocre writers. The question I wish to ask is whether any difference can be seen between the positions taken by former communists and those who expressed anti-communist views before 1945.

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