Lengyel, Réka (2017) The Sources of Ferenc Verseghy’s Handbook of Aesthetics (Usus aestheticus linguae hungaricae, 1817). In: Anthropologische Ästhetik in Mitteleuropa 1750−1850 – Anthropological Aesthetics in Central Europe 1750−1850. Bochumer Quellen und Forschungen zum achtzehnten Jahrhundert . Wehrhahn Verlag, pp. 1-14.
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Abstract
One of the primary characteristics of Hungarian literature from the very beginnings of its history has been that literatures of other nations have been an inspiring source for Hungarian authors and the practice of literary translation has greatly enriched literature in Hungarian. In the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th century, a significantly higher number of translations were done and published than in the earlier period, and most of the most prominent writers were also translators. The notion that translation serves as a point of departure point, a kind of foundation on which the structure of national literature should rest, became widespread opinion. This view was also shared by Ferenc Verseghy (1757–1822), one of the most significant figures of intellectual life in Hungary at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. He was a well-trained and industrious translator of poetry, fiction, and scientific works, so when scholars evaluate the outstanding quantity of his literary production, he is generally overtaken by contemporary writers who are considered more original. One would not consider Verseghy an original thinker or writer on the basis of his works on aesthetics, but this was true of most of the Hungarian and foreign authors working in this field. Even so, he was a talented translator, compilator, and editor, who wrote about the elements of contemporary anthropological aesthetics in a unique way, arranged in a logical, transparent system.
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