Attila Jozsef Biography and List of Works

One of the greatest Hungarian poets of the 20th century who spent his entire life in extreme poverty and suffered from depression. Although Josef's poems were melancholic, they also expressed the author's faith in life's essential beauty and harmony. József committed suicide at the age of 32.

Some people will stay
pedestrians no matter what they ride,
horse, car, or airplane

József Attila was born in Budapest. His father left the family when József was 3, originally planning to move to the United States, but ending finally in Romania. In 1910-12 József lived with his foster parents in Öcsöd, at the age of nine he attempted suicide. His mother died in 1919.

Between the years 1920 and 1923 József studied at a secondary school in Makó, without graduating. As a poet József made his debut with A SZÉPSÉG KOLDUSA (1922), when he was 17-years old. Foreword for the collection was written by the famous poet Gyula Juhász (1883-1937). József studied privately for a year, and entered the University of Szeged in 1924. With the help of Lajos Hatvany, he acquired a good education in Hungary, Austria (1925) and France (1926-27).

In 1925 Jószef published his second collection of poems, NEM ÉN KIÁLTOK. He was expelled from the university because of a revolutionary poem, 'Tiszta szível' (With a Pure Heart) - the influential professor Antal Horger attacked the poem. With his manuscripts he travelled to Vienna, and then to Paris, where he studied at Sorbonne. Such internationally known Hungarian researches and critics as Béla Balázs and Görgy Lukács praised his works. In 1927 several French magazines published József's poems. In 1927-28 he studied at the University of Budapest. His third collection of poems, NINCSEN APÁM SE ANYÁM, appeared in 1929. Next year he joined the illegal Hungarian Communist Party, and in 1931 József's essay IRODALOM ÉS SZOCIALIZMUS led to indictment. In 1933 he was expelled from the party by Stalinists, who accused him of fascist views. In the same year Judit Szántó became his life companion.

In 1932 appeared József's KÜLVÁROSI ÉJ, his mature collection of poems, which was followed by MEDVETÁNC (1934), and his last work NAGYON FÁJ (1936). Now he gained a wide critical attention, and he became one of the journalist at the magazine Szép Szón.

József had undergone psychoanalysis in 1931, and in 1935 he was again hospitalised for severe depression. Probably encouraged by his psychiatrist Edit Gyömröin, he wrote the confessional, defamatory text SZABAD-ÖTLETEK JEGYZÉKE KÉT ÜLÉSBEN. It was partly based on his psychoanalytic treatment and not published in Hungary until 1990s.

On January 1937 József met the author Thomas Mann, but he was not allowed to read publicly his poem THOMAS MANN ÜDVÖZLÉSE. In the summer he was again in a hospital. József committed suicide in Balatonszárszó on December 3, 1937 by throwing himself under a freight train. A lunatic from the village, a sales representative, and a conductor witnessed the accident.

"Kedvesem er osderekú, karcsú asszony,
ültem már repül ogépen, magasból o is kicsinek látszik,
de pilótalétemre is megbecsülném.
Maga mossa a ruhát, a hab álmodozva reszket karjain,
letérdel, mintha imádkonza, fölsikálja a padlót és nagyot kagac,
ha elvégezte,
kacagása mint az alma, melybe héjastul beléharap,
olyankor az is hangosan nevet (...)"
(from 'Hajnalban kel föl, mint a pékek')

The central themes of Jószef's poems are poverty, loneliness, suffering, but there is also love and hope for a more human world. In a love poem to himself, entitled 'Attila József,' he wrote: "I really love you, / believe me. Its something I inherited / from my mother." Evident in his works is the influence of both Marx and Sigmund Freud. József's works are exact in language and evocative in imagery. After WW II József was presented as a model for young poets, and his influence is still far-reaching.

For further reading: Attila József by Anton N. Nyerges, Joseph M. Ertavy-Barath

SZÉPSÉG KOLDUSA, (1922)