Language/Literature paper by Pereszlényi-Pintér, Mártha
‘Páris felett a furcsán elborult hajnal. . .’: Radnóti and his French Connections (Accepted)
Type of Abstract (select):Abstract (max. 250 words):
In abundant biographies, Miklós Radnóti, one of the greatest Hungarian poets of the 20th century, very little concrete scholarship has appeared on the influence on his oeuvre of French authors, or his visits to Paris (1931, 1937, 1939). The Colonial Exposition of 1931 and the waning years of Parisian “negrophilia” even turned his attention toward African cultures, an interest that he maintained throughout his life, as evidenced by his eventual (1934) translation of a series of African folk tales: Karunga a holtak ura. Néger legendák. In 1930, Radnóti had enrolled at Szeged University, majoring in Hungarian and French. While his PhD was on Margit Kaffka, his early influences included French symbolists Baudelaire and Verlaine. His translations from French on the works of La Fontaine and Montherlant were an influence on his literary development. In his 1934 essay, he discusses French “exoticists” including Apollinaire and Blaise Cendrars. While works such as his lyrical “Juliusi vers” (1931) date from his first Paris trip, his return trip in 1937 was to a very different Paris: he experienced first-hand public demonstrations in the streets and anxieties stemming from the Spanish Civil War next door. Living in the Hôtel des Trois Collèges across from the Sorbonne during the summers of 1937 and 1939, he recalls this period in his poem “Paris” (1943). A commemorative plaque by the hotel entrance celebrates the memory of Radnóti with a quotation from his “Hispánia, Hispánia”: “Népek kiáltják sorsodat, szabadság! ma délután is érted szállt az ének.” This paper seeks to add nuances to the intense and moving poetic production of a poet’s idyllic world eventually colliding violently with tragic socio-political realities and pain in his verses that reflect the horror and suffering caused by Nazi persecution unleashed in particular against people of Jewish heritage.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Mártha Pereszlényi-Pintér is the former Chairperson of the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Cultures and Associate Professor of French at John Carroll University in Cleveland, OH. She earned her Ph.D. in Romance Languages from The Ohio State University, and studied at the Institut de Touraine (Tours) and the Bryn Mawr Program (Avignon) in France. Her research and publication accomplishments include French and also Hungarian Literature and Culture of the pre-modern period (Medieval, Renaissance, 17th century), Film, and Language for Business & the Professions. She has read papers at national and international conferences. While at OSU, she wrote or co-wrote 16 manuals for individualized instruction in both French and Hungarian with group grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Annenberg Foundation. She was born in Austria and emigrated to the USA with her Hungarian parents. She is also a past President of AHEA, and chaired or co-chaired four past AHEA annual Conferences.