THE GOLDEN AGES OF HUNGARIAN LITERARY TRANSLATION

Abstract

Hungarian literature starts with a translation from Latin, namely, a poem entitled ‘The lament of Mary’. In Hungarian literature translation has a great tradition, without translation our literature would be something different. Translations contributed to becoming acquainted with outstanding foreign works on the one hand, and enrich and renew Hungarian language on the other. The paper deals with the three golden ages of literary translation: 1. The age of the ‘translator manufacturers’: Károly Szász et al. 2. The age of the monthly ‘Nyugat’ – ‘belles infidèles’ et al., and 3. The age of the 50s and 60s: László Németh et al. The paper describes the ages, the translators and some translated works.