Kazinczy

KAZINCZY, Ferencz, Hun garian dramatist and poet: b. Erhemlyen, 27 Oct. 1759; d. Izephalom, 22 Aug. 1831. Edu cated in law, he early turned to literature at a time when no one had as yet dared to make of it a profession. With decided literary ability, he was forced to gain the greater part of his living, especially during the earlier years of his career, by making translations from foreign languages, including English, French, German, Latin and Greek. Notwithstanding his good classical education and his love for these lan guages, he was largely instrumental in forcing them from the controlling position they had held in the schools of Hungary and establishing the supremacy of the Magyar tongue. From the beginning of the 19th century to his death, a period of over 30 years, he was the undis puted leader of the Hungarian literary move ment and of the °innovators," as the promoters of the Magyar literary party were called. Pre vious to this, in his younger and more ardent days, his revolutionary tendencies had led him into trouble. In 1793 he was arrested, tried for participation in the political conspir acy of Abbot Martinovics, convicted and con demned to death. This sentence was commuted to six years' imprisonment, which he served in government military prisons. His trial created great interest in Hungary owing to the fact that Kazinczy had already become a national character through the popularity of his works and his office of inspector of the national school of the district of Kaschan, a position he had held until 1791 and which he is believed to have lost on account of the revolutionary tone of much of his writings and his ultra-protest ant views. After his imprisonment he became much less revolutionary in sentiment and ex pression and busied himself in promoting the growth of a truly national literature written in the Magyar tongue. Among his original works are 'Magyar Muzeum' (1788-92) ; 'Orpheus' (1790) ; (1813) ; new ed., (1831). Numerous editions of his works have been published before and since his death. Of these the most extensive are that which appeared at Pesth in nine volumes, un der his own supervision and consisting largely of translations (1814-16) and a collection of his original poems and other writings pub lished at the same city (1843-44). Many par tial editions have also appeared; one consist ing of his plays, another (in popular form) of his poems, others of his translations and still others of his essays, sketches and travels. Even his voluminous correspondence has been pub lished by the Hungarian Academy as important documentary material for the literary and po litical history of the first quarter of the 19th century. Though not really a great or original thinker, Kazinczy was really one of the great est of benefactors of Magyar literature at a time when it was beginning seriously to assert itself. Through his translations of the more

striking works of great German writers, such as Lessing, Wieland, Goethe and Klopstock and other notable literary masterpieces from Mo here, La Rochefoucauld, Marmontel, Sterne, Shakespeare, Metastasio and the classical writers, he furnished the Magyar people with a literature already made and done over into their own tongue in a most pleasing manner and in good literary form. At that stage of its history it was the best possible food for the ris ing school of young literary men who fed upon imitated mitated it, as Kazinczy himself had done, and finally created a national literature. His numerous followers exaggerated his work and placed a higher literary value upon it than pos terity has sustained. What he accomplished was in reality the rehabilitation of the Hun garian tongue which had lagged woefully be hind in the literary march of Europe. At the beginning of the 19th century the Hungarian language had come face to face with the fact that it had neither the wealth of vocabulary nor the perfected literary form fitted to ex press the new ideas and the rising culture of the nation, most of which were being rapidly introduced from abroad or developed at home. At this moment, Kazinczy, liberated from his years of prison life, appeared upon the scene, his reform proclivities still strongly alive. The evolutionary condition offered him an oppor tunity which he eagerly seized upon. He boldly introduced new words wherever and whenever he had need of them to express his own thoughts in his original composition or in those of the galaxy of foreign authors whom he introduced to the Hungarian reading pub lic. The purists rose in arms against him. Everywhere he met with opposition. All liter ary Hungary became divided into two bitterly hostile camps. Kazinczy's works were more than once burned by the public hangman. But the reform, being a necessity, eventually triumphed, though with many modifications of its exaggerated claims following the death of Kazinczy of Asiatic cholera at Szephalom in 1831. had two somewhat idealistic aims in view, to embellish the Hungarian language and to improve its facilities of ex pression, while at the same time improving its literary form and manner of thought. To this end he wrote critical essays on the works of Hungarian authors. This gave him the repu tation of being the greatest living native liter ary critic and this, in turn, led to a very exten sive literary correspondence, which alone amounted to over a score of volumes, all of which was used directly or indirectly to fur ther the work of reform, his one great passion.

Frigyes-Riedl, 'History of Hungarian Literature' (London 1909) ; Kont, 'Bibliographie francaise de la Hongrie' (Paris 1913) ; Petrik, 'Bibliographia Hungarim' (Budapest 1885-1906) ; Reich, Emil, 'Hun garian Literature' (London 1900) ; Riedl, F., 'Hungarian (1906) ; Schwicker, der ungarischen Litteratur' (Leip zig 1889).