Sensation in literary history: a rare treasure has been found

The complete manuscript of Dezső Kosztolányi's first significant work as a literary translator was identified in the KIK Manuscripts and Old Books Collection of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

The translation of Byron: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by Dezső Kosztolányi in 1904 for the Kisfaludy Társaság's literary translation competition was found in the KIK Manuscripts and Old Books Collection of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, of which only fragments were known until now.

However, Miklós Péti, a lecturer at the Department of English at the Károl Gáspár Reformed University, identified the complete, clarified translation among the entries submitted to the tenders of the Kisfaludy Society, which are kept by the KIK Manuscripts and Old Books Collection of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

The list of works compiled by Béla Mázi in 2006, which includes the mark of the Kosztolányi translation ("Felleg"), helped in the identification.

The newly discovered translation has an important benefit from the point of view of Hungarian literary history and Byron's reception in Hungary, that

this is the only complete translation of the English poet's work by a major twentieth-century Hungarian poet.

Miklós Péti will explain the circumstances of the identification and the broader context of the translation in the April 2024 issue of Vigília. He will also publish a short excerpt from the translation there.

Cover image: The report image of the Pesti Hírlap was created to illustrate the main test of the telephone connection established between America and Hungary.
Original publication: Képes Pesti Hírlap November 14, 1928. Source: MTI