Még két újabb kötet József Attila könyvtárából = Two more books from József Attila’s library

Bíró-Balogh, Tamás (2023) Még két újabb kötet József Attila könyvtárából = Two more books from József Attila’s library. IRODALOMTÖRTÉNETI KÖZLEMÉNYEK, 127 (3). pp. 343-350. ISSN 0021-1486

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Abstract

In 1996, the eminent literary historian Tasi József (1939–1999) published an important book in which he reconstructed József Attila’s (1905– 1937) private library (József Attila’s library and other studies), collecting editions of books in which the poet once wrote his name, made notes or which bore inscriptions to him. In the decades since the book’s publication, few new items have emerged from the poet’s library. This publication describes two recently discovered volumes from the scattered private library of József Attila. The first book was acquired when the young poet was in high school, and contains poems by the then famous Indian poet Tagore. The second was given to him as a mature poet by a fellow poet, Zelk Zoltán. An author’s signature shows whose library these works once belonged: in the former, with an owner’s inscription; and in the latter, with an author’s signature. These are literary historical contributions of a dual nature. On the one hand, they are documents that belong to the field of literary biography, since József Attila literally had these volumes in his hands. On the other hand, they can also provide new information about his poetic development (e.g.: it is a good basis for looking for a possible Tagore influence in his early poems), and thus ultimately about the interpretation of his poetic oeuvre. For both of the books described, the Latin saying is true: “habent sua fata libelli” (“Books have their own destinies.”): both were lying around for decades, in attics, in the factory library, discarded, until they were found again.

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