László F. Földényi (born 19 April, 1952 in Debrecen)[1] is a Hungarian critic, essayist and art theorist.[2] He lives in Budapest where he is Professor of Art Theory at the University of Theatre, Film and Television.[3] He has been a member of the German Academy for Language and Literature since 2009.[4]
Having published over 15 books, Földényi is a prolific writer. However only three collections of essays have been translated and published in English.
Melancholy, a cultural history of the concept, was published in Hungarian in 1984 and not translated into English until 2016. In an essay on melancholia, noted writer Péter Nádas suggests that as a practicing melancholic, Földényi has written a book that ‘provides a realization [about melancholy] similar to the one modern astronomy reaches about black holes’.[5] Földényi posits that eminent artists are often melancholic as they are aware of their mortality.[6]
Dostoyevsky Reads Hegel in Siberia and Bursts into Tears is a collection of Földényi’s essays spanning the two decades to 2015. The book is considered by some critics to be a critique with religious undertones[7] of an overly rational Enlightenment tradition. Writing in The New Yorker, James Wood labelled the book's depiction of the Enlightenment a 'grievous caricature.'[8] In spite of these criticisms, the essays can be considered a demonstration of the author's erudition and knowledge of intellectual history.[9]
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