Magda Szabó (October 5, 1917 – November 19, 2007) was a Hungarian novelist. Doctor of philology, she also wrote dramas, essays, studies, memoirs, poetry and children's literature. She was a founding member of the Digital Literary Academy [hu], an online digital repository of Hungarian literature. She is the most translated Hungarian author, with publications in 42 countries and over 30 languages.[1][2]
Magda Szabó | |
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Born | (1917-10-05)5 October 1917 Debrecen, Austria-Hungary |
Died | 19 November 2007(2007-11-19) (aged 90) Kerepes, Hungary |
Years active | 1947–1987 |
Magda Szabó was born in Debrecen, Austria-Hungary in 1917. Her father was an academic and taught her English and Latin. [3]
In 1940, she graduated from the University of Debrecen as a teacher of Latin and of Hungarian.[3] She began teaching in the same year at the Protestant Girls Boarding School in Debrecen and Hódmezővásárhely.[3] From 1945 to 1949, she worked in the Ministry of Religion and Education.[3]
She married the writer and translator Tibor Szobotka (1913–1982) in 1947.[4]
Szabó began her writing career as a poet and in 1947 she published her first book of poetry, Bárány ("Lamb"), which was followed by Vissza az emberig ("Back to the Human") in 1949.[5] In 1949 she was awarded the Baumgarten Prize, which was immediately withdrawn when Szabó was labeled an enemy to the Communist Party.[6] She was dismissed from the Ministry in the same year.[6] The Stalinist era from 1949 to 1956 censored any literature, such as Szabó's work, that did not conform to socialist realism.[7] Since her husband was also censored by the communist regime, she was forced to teach in a Calvinist girls' school until 1959.[7][1][8]
She wrote her first novel, Freskó ("Fresco") during these years, and it was published in 1958.[5] The novel tells the story of a puritan family coming together for a funeral, and examines questions of hypocrisy and Hungarian history.[2] In the same year, she published another book of poetry, Bárány Boldizsár ("Lawrence the Lamb"), and a novel for younger female readers, Mondják meg Zsófikának (translated into English as "Tell Sally ...").[2]
Az őz ("The Fawn"), published in 1959, is a novel centered around an actress and her struggle to overcome a difficult, impoverished childhood.[1] In this novel, Szabó effectively portrays the psychological, internal world of the modern woman.[1] In 1961 and 1962, Szabó published two more novels for young women, Álarcosbál ("Masked Ball") and Születésnap ("Birthday") respectively.[5][1] Pilátus ("Iza's Ballad"), the story of a female doctor and her relationship with her mother, was published in 1963.[9] Tündér Lala ("Lara the Fairy"), her 1965 novel, is one of the most popular novels for children written in Hungarian.[5][2] In 1969, she published Katalin utca ("Katalin Street"), a realistic depiction of post-World War II life.[1] Her most widely read novel Abigél ("Abigail", 1970) is an adventure story about a young girl living in a Calvinist girls-only school in eastern Hungary during World War II. The titular character is the deadname of Mr. König, a transgender man who teaches at Gina's school [2] The novel's success resulted in a TV series, produced in 1978;[1] the novel was also adapted into a musical that premiered in March 2008. In 1971, Szabó began a series of autobiographical works, which depict her family history. The first of this series is the short novel, Ókút ("The Ancient Well"), followed by Régimódi történet ("Old-Fashioned Story").[1][2] In 2002, Szabó continued this autobiographical series with Für Elise, a recollection of the author's life from 1917 to 1935.[1] Today, this is one of her most popular works in Hungarian.[1]
In 1975, Szabó published a collection of plays titled Az órák és a farkasok ("The Wolf Hours").[2] She published two more dramas in 1984, Erőnk szerint ("According to Our Strength") and Béla Király ("King Béla").[2]
Her novel Az ajtó (The Door) was published in 1987 and would become one of her most famous works worldwide.[1] The novel revolves around the relationship between two women, one a prominent Hungarian writer much like Szabó herself, and the other her cryptic housekeeper.[1] Claire Messud writes in the New York Times that reading The Door, has completely changed her outlook on life while Cynthia Zarin, contributor to The New Yorker, calls it "a bone-shaking book."[6] The Door was translated into English in 1995 by Stefan Draughon and again in 2005 by Len Rix.[10]
On October 5, 2017, Google celebrated her 100th birthday with a Google Doodle.[21]
Recipients of the Mondello Prize | |
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Single Prize for Literature: Bartolo Cattafi (1975) • Achille Campanile (1976) • Günter Grass (1977) | |
Special Jury Prize: Denise McSmith (1975) • Stefano D'Arrigo (1977) • Jurij Trifonov (1978) • Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (1979) • Pietro Consagra (1980) • Ignazio Buttitta, Angelo Maria e Ela Ripellino (1983) • Leonardo Sciascia (1985) • Wang Meng (1987) • Mikhail Gorbaciov (1988) • Peter Carey, José Donoso, Northrop Frye, Jorge Semprún, Wole Soyinka, Lu Tongliu (1990) • Fernanda Pivano (1992) • Associazione Scrittori Cinesi (1993) • Dong Baoucum, Fan Boaci, Wang Huanbao, Shi Peide, Chen Yuanbin (1995) • Xu Huainzhong, Xiao Xue, Yu Yougqnan, Qin Weinjung (1996) • Khushwant Singh (1997) • Javier Marías (1998) • Francesco Burdin (2001) • Luciano Erba (2002) • Isabella Quarantotti De Filippo (2003) • Marina Rullo (2006) • Andrea Ceccherini (2007) • Enrique Vila-Matas (2009) • Francesco Forgione (2010) | |
First narrative work: Carmelo Samonà (1978) • Fausta Garavini (1979) | |
First poetic work: Giovanni Giuga (1978) • Gilberto Sacerdoti (1979) | |
Prize for foreign literature: Milan Kundera (1978) • N. Scott Momaday (1979) • Juan Carlos Onetti (1980) • Tadeusz Konwicki (1981) | |
Prize for foreign poetry: Jannis Ritsos (1978) • Joseph Brodsky (1979) • Juan Gelman (1980) • Gyula Illyés (1981) | |
First work: Valerio Magrelli (1980) • Ferruccio Benzoni, Stefano Simoncelli, Walter Valeri, Laura Mancinelli (1981) • Jolanda Insana (1982) • Daniele Del Giudice (1983) • Aldo Busi (1984) • Elisabetta Rasy, Dario Villa (1985) • Marco Lodoli, Angelo Mainardi (1986) • Marco Ceriani, Giovanni Giudice (1987) • Edoardo Albinati, Silvana La Spina (1988) • Andrea Canobbio, Romana Petri (1990) • Anna Cascella (1991) • Marco Caporali, Nelida Milani (1992) • Silvana Grasso, Giulio Mozzi (1993) • Ernesto Franco (1994) • Roberto Deidier (1995) • Giuseppe Quatriglio, Tiziano Scarpa (1996) • Fabrizio Rondolino (1997) • Alba Donati (1998) • Paolo Febbraro (1999) • Evelina Santangelo (2000) • Giuseppe Lupo (2001) • Giovanni Bergamini, Simona Corso (2003) • Adriano Lo Monaco (2004) • Piercarlo Rizzi (2005) • Francesco Fontana (2006) • Paolo Fallai (2007) • Luca Giachi (2008) • Carlo Carabba (2009) • Gabriele Pedullà (2010) | |
Foreign author: Alain Robbe-Grillet (1982) • Thomas Bernhard (1983) • Adolfo Bioy Casares (1984) • Bernard Malamud (1985) • Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1986) • Doris Lessing (1987) • V. S. Naipaul (1988) • Octavio Paz (1989) • Christa Wolf (1990) • Kurt Vonnegut (1991) • Bohumil Hrabal (1992) • Seamus Heaney (1993) • J. M. Coetzee (1994) • Vladimir Vojnovič (1995) • David Grossman (1996) • Philippe Jaccottet (1998) • Don DeLillo (1999) • Aleksandar Tišma (2000) • Nuruddin Farah (2001) • Per Olov Enquist (2002) • Adunis (2003) • Les Murray (2004) • Magda Szabó (2005) • Uwe Timm (2006) • Bapsi Sidhwa (2007) • Viktor Yerofeyev (2009) • Edmund White (2010) • Javier Cercas (2011) • Elizabeth Strout (2012) • Péter Esterházy (2013) • Joe R. Lansdale (2014) • Emmanuel Carrère (2015) • Marilynne Robinson (2016) • Cees Nooteboom (2017) | |
Italian Author: Alberto Moravia (1982) • Vittorio Sereni alla memoria (1983) • Italo Calvino (1984) • Mario Luzi (1985) • Paolo Volponi (1986) • Luigi Malerba (1987) • Oreste del Buono (1988) • Giovanni Macchia (1989) • Gianni Celati, Emilio Villa (1990) • Andrea Zanzotto (1991) • Ottiero Ottieri (1992) • Attilio Bertolucci (1993) • Luigi Meneghello (1994) • Fernando Bandini, Michele Perriera (1995) • Nico Orengo (1996) • Giuseppe Bonaviri, Giovanni Raboni (1997) • Carlo Ginzburg (1998) • Alessandro Parronchi (1999) • Elio Bartolini (2000) • Roberto Alajmo (2001) • Andrea Camilleri (2002) • Andrea Carraro, Antonio Franchini, Giorgio Pressburger (2003) • Maurizio Bettini, Giorgio Montefoschi, Nelo Risi (2004) • pr. Raffaele Nigro, sec. Maurizio Cucchi, ter. Giuseppe Conte (2005) • pr. Paolo Di Stefano, sec. Giulio Angioni (2006) • pr. Mario Fortunato, sec. Toni Maraini, ter. Andrea Di Consoli (2007) • pr. Andrea Bajani, sec. Antonio Scurati, ter. Flavio Soriga (2008) • pr. Mario Desiati, sec. Osvaldo Guerrieri, ter. Gregorio Scalise (2009) • pr. Lorenzo Pavolini, sec. Roberto Cazzola, ter. (2010) • pr. Eugenio Baroncelli, sec. Milo De Angelis, ter. Igiaba Scego (2011) • pr. Edoardo Albinati, sec. Paolo Di Paolo, ter. Davide Orecchio (2012) • pr. Andrea Canobbio, sec. Valerio Magrelli, ter. Walter Siti (2013) • pr. Irene Chias, sec. Giorgio Falco, ter. Francesco Pecoraro (2014) • pr. Nicola Lagioia, sec. Letizia Muratori, ter. Marco Missiroli (2015) • pr. Marcello Fois, sec. Emanuele Tonon, ter. Romana Petri (2016) • pr. Stefano Massini, sec. Alessandro Zaccuri, ter. Alessandra Sarchi (2017) | |
"Five Continents" Award: Kōbō Abe, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Germaine Greer, Wilson Harris, José Saramago (1992) • Kenzaburō Ōe (1993) • Stephen Spender (1994) • Thomas Keneally, Alberto Arbasino (1996) • Margaret Atwood, André Brink, David Malouf, Romesh Gunesekera, Christoph Ransmayr (1997) | |
"Palermo bridge for Europe" Award: Dacia Maraini (1999), Premio Palermo ponte per il Mediterraneo Alberto Arbasino (2000) | |
"Ignazio Buttitta" Award: Nino De Vita (2003) • Attilio Lolini (2005) • Roberto Rossi Precerotti (2006) • Silvia Bre (2007) | |
Supermondello Tiziano Scarpa (2009) • Michela Murgia (2010) • Eugenio Baroncelli (2011) • Davide Orecchio (2012) • Valerio Magrelli (2013) • Giorgio Falco (2014) • Marco Missiroli (2015) • Romana Petri (2016) • Stefano Massini (2017) | |
Special award of the President: Ibrahim al-Koni (2009) • Emmanuele Maria Emanuele (2010) • Antonio Calabrò (2011) | |
Poetry prize: Antonio Riccardi (2010) | |
Translation Award: Evgenij Solonovic (2010) | |
Identity and dialectal literatures award: Gialuigi Beccaria e Marco Paolini (2010) | |
Essays Prize: Marzio Barbagli (2010) | |
Mondello for Multiculturality Award: Kim Thúy (2011) | |
Mondello Youths Award: Claudia Durastanti (2011) • Edoardo Albinati (2012) • Alessandro Zaccuri (2017) | |
"Targa Archimede", Premio all'Intelligenza d'Impresa: Enzo Sellerio (2011) | |
Prize for Literary Criticism: Salvatore Silvano Nigro (2012) • Maurizio Bettini (2013) • Enrico Testa (2014) • Ermanno Cavazzoni (2015) • Serena Vitale (2016) • Antonio Prete (2017) | |
Award for best motivation: Simona Gioè (2012) | |
Special award for travel literature: Marina Valensise (2013) | |
Special Award 40 Years of Mondello: Gipi (2014) |
General | |
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National libraries | |
Biographical dictionaries | |
Scientific databases | |
Other |
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