Barbarian prayer: Selected poems of Sándor Csoóri

by Sándor Csoóri

English (translation) Hungarian

92 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1996

About the author

Sándor Csoóri was a Hungarian poet, essayist, writer and politician. In 1950, he graduated from the Reformed Pontifical College (Pápai Református Kollégiumban), and then studied at ELTE Institute, but dropped his studies because of illness. He worked in various journals, such as during 1953-54 Literature in the newspaper, and in 1955 until 1956 the new sound versrovat editor. In 1956, he could not find work for a while, and then in 1960, as at the beginning of the Budapest University of Technology, and newspaper editorial staff, he was the MAFILM dramaturg from 1968 until 1988.

His first poems appeared in 1953, raising a big stir, being critical of the Rákosi era. The authorities soon noticed that Csoóri was not one of their supporters. He wrote criticizing the dictatorship's impact of personality, and te fate of rural people. He was under surveillance sometimes for years, and did not receive awards. He lived in Budapest, where he met with his friends, including Miklos Jancso, Otto Orban, Gyorgy Konrad, Ferenc Kosa. In 1988, he was co-editor with Gáspár Nagy, of Hitel, and in 1992 editor-in-chief.

Reviews

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whew! I love Hungarian poetry. Attila József and Szilárd Borbély absolutely rock! Reading a Barbarian Prayer off the back of The Flowers of Evil cemented my preference on feeling before thinking. These poets are emotionally evocative, dark, and mulling. I think Baudelaire tries to do this, but these Hungarian poets pull it off better. I suspect it's because many of these Hungarian poets suffered true and honest tragedies. Baudelaire suffers from being wealthy! Much of the darkness is self contrived and invented. (This is definitely not a moral judgement that wealthy people are bad or can't be sad or can't suffer from tragedies). Sándor is able to mutate the mundane into the horrific. Watermelon seeds become black cobblestones of streets ruined from WWII, but unable to become life again. A wondrous freak show universal commonalities becoming monsters as war can convince us of the worst. His writing is definitely consistent among other Hungarian writers like László Krasznahorkai (i.e., sad, dark, depressing). If you would like a bite of the apple into Hungarian literature, to feel Hungarian literature, this collection of poems is a good way to dip one's toe.