Songs of Despair in Times of Contempt. On the Poetic Cycle of Márciustól Márciusig by István Vas Cover Image

Pieśni rozpaczy w czasach pogardy Wokół cyklu poetyckiego Márciustól márciusig Istvána Vasa
Songs of Despair in Times of Contempt. On the Poetic Cycle of Márciustól Márciusig by István Vas

Author(s): Kinga Piotrowiak-Junkiert
Subject(s): Studies of Literature
Published by: Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza
Keywords: István Vas; Hugarian Jewish literature; II World War in Hungary; Siege of Budapest

Summary/Abstract: The article offers an interpretation of the poetic cycle Od marca do marca [From March to March] by István Vas, a Hungarian poet and writer of Jewish origin. The author treated each of his poems as a notebook, where he recorded his reflections on the situation of Hungarian Jews, the human condition, the siege of Budapest, etc. For Vas, each piece is a separate testimony to the time of the war. The entire cycle is steeped in irony and a harsh judgement of the society’s moral fall. Vas wrote his poems during the period of Nazism but published them during the communist regime, when he wanted to answer a question about the role of art in the process of recovering historical memory, and whether a literary text could offer protection from the hostile reality.

  • Issue Year: 2019
  • Issue No: 17
  • Page Range: 209-220
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Polish
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