Мадьяр жазушысы Магда Сабо

Hungarian novelist
the Hungarian writer

Magda Szabó (October 5, 1917 – November 19, 2007) was a Hungarian novelist. Doctor of philology, she also wrote dramas, essays, studies, memoirs, poetry and children's literature. She was a founding member of the Digitális Irodalmi Akadémia, an online digital repository of Hungarian literature. She is the most translated Hungarian author, with publications in 42 countries and over 30 languages. In 1940, she graduated from the University of Debrecen as a teacher of Latin and of Hungarian.

Szabó began her writing career as a poet and in 1947 she published her first book of poetry, Bárány ("Lamb"), which was followed by Vissza az emberig ("Back to the Human") in 1949. In 1949 she was awarded the Baumgarten Prize, which was immediately withdrawn when Szabó was labeled an enemy to the Communist Party. Since her husband was also censored by the communist regime, she was forced to teach in a Calvinist girls' school until 1959. She wrote her first novel, Freskó ("Fresco") during these years, and it was published in 1958. In the same year, she published another book of poetry, Bárány Boldizsár ("Lawrence the Lamb"), and a novel for younger female readers, Mondják meg Zsófikának (translated into English as "Tell Sally "). Tündér Lala ("Lara the Fairy"), her 1965 novel, is one of the most popular novels for children written in Hungarian. Lucy Jeffery discusses how Szabó’s descriptions of the domestic in Iza's Ballad, Katalin Street, and The Door convey the impact of Hungary’s troubled political history on the concept of the home/homeland. Jeffery suggests that 'as Szabó interweaves politics, creativity, and the domestic, her novels become politically motivated acts of breaking an enforced silence.' In their discussion of Szabó's well known novel Abigél, Lucy Jeffery and Anna Váradi highlight the importance of the identity of the Hungarian nation to Szabó, arguing that it is one of the novelists prevailing themes. Jeffery and Váradi conclude their article by remarking that 'In Abigél, Szabó demonstrates that in the wake of Trianon, negotiations between the distinctiveness of Hungarian cultural identity on the one hand and a uniform, systematised global space on the other produce divisive and inconclusive results that lead to a split definition of Hungary as Nagymagyarország and Hungary as Magyarország.'

On October 5, 2017, Google celebrated her 100th birthday with a Google Doodle.