István Eörsi

Who was István Eörsi?

István Eörsi was a Hungarian writer, novelist, political essayist, poet and literature translator.

He was born in educated Jewish family. After completing English and German literature studies in Budapest he worked as a school teacher. Beginning in early youth, he wrote articles for communist newspaper, claimed to be a Marxist, and wrote a poem on the occasion of death of Joseph Stalin.

Eörsi was part of the Hungarian minority that welcomed the Red Army, when the Russians invaded his country. He was one of those who looked on the Russians as liberators and not enemies. Although most of these Russian supporters were disillusioned after the rise to power of Stalin, Eörsi found new opportunities in this time of uncertainty. Even as a schoolboy, Eörsi published poems that sang the praises of the communist government.

In later years, he was an opponent of the proletariat's dictatorship and an oppositionist. Because of his participation in 1956 uprising he was sentenced to eight years in prison, of which he served three and a half. After his release he was banned from publication, because of which he concentrated on translating works of Goethe, Heine, Brecht, Shakespeare, Ginsberg, Shelley, Keats, Pushkin, Jandl and Lorca.