Poetics of Transcendence and Estrangement : Hungarian modernism in a Central European context

Szilveszter, László Szilárd (2025) Poetics of Transcendence and Estrangement : Hungarian modernism in a Central European context. Art & Theory (1). L'Harmattan Kiadó, Hungarian Academy of Arts Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology, Budapest. ISBN 9789636464165; 9782336575728

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Abstract

The volume consists of two parts and eight studies on Hungarian poetry. Part One, Value Shapes of Faith and Doubt, includes four chapters analysing the works of prominent 20th-century Hungarian poets such as Sándor Weöres, Jenő Dsida, Attila József, István Bella, István Ágh, and Imre Oravecz. It examines the extent to which late modernist lyrical discourse is connected to the stylistic and poetic tendencies of earlier periods or to those that emerged in the second half of the 20th century. Part Two, Transylvanian Perspectives, discusses the stylistic and poetic characteristics of Transylvanian Hungarian poetry during the communist era and, to a lesser extent, the post-regime-change period. Drawing on the works of poets such as Domokos Szilágyi, Aladár Lászlóffy, Sándor Kányádi, András Ferenc Kovács, Zsófia Balla, and László Király, this section identifies the defining features of post–World War II poetry, with particular attention to how it reflects the social and cultural conditions of the communist period and the poets’ relationship with the regime. The aim of the book is to present, first, the existential anxiety and sense of alienation experienced by the modern self; second, the otherworldly nature of the poetic depiction of transcendence and the relationship with God; and third, the confinement and isolation experienced by Eastern-Central European – particularly Transylvanian Hungarian – culture and literature during the post–World War I era and the decades of communist dictatorship.

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