{"id":76,"date":"2026-04-07T14:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/szd-folkhighschool.org.hu\/?page_id=76"},"modified":"2026-04-25T10:34:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T08:34:05","slug":"a-mester-eletrajza","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/szd-folkhighschool.org.hu\/en\/a-mester-eletrajza\/","title":{"rendered":"The Master's Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\n\t\t\tBiography of Dezs\u0151 Szab\u00f3\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

He was born in 1879 in Kolozsv\u00e1r, the tenth child of a family of minor nobility who worked as civil servants. He graduated from the Reformed High School in Kolozsv\u00e1r in 1899 and then continued his studies at the University of Budapest, majoring in Hungarian and French. During his university years, he delved deeply into Finno-Ugric linguistics. After earning his teaching degree in Hungarian and French, he taught for a short time before moving to Paris on a scholarship.<\/p>

Upon his return, he taught in Sz\u00e9kesfeh\u00e9rv\u00e1r, Nagyv\u00e1rad, Sz\u00e9kelyudvarhely, S\u00fcmeg, Ungv\u00e1r, and L\u0151cse. During the 1910 teachers\u2019 movement, he became embroiled in a heated debate with Istv\u00e1n Tisza, which led him to become involved with the literary circles of Nyugat and later Huszadik Sz\u00e1zad. He was a contributor to these publications for years, and his first short stories appeared in Nyugat.<\/p>

He personally experienced the period of the Hungarian Soviet Republic and the proletarian dictatorship, which he considered alien and anti-national, and thus fled to the countryside. Since he saw that \u201cthe anti-national schemes of primarily Jewish arms dealers\u201d were taking place in the country, he formed the opinion in his youth that \u201ccapitalism had shackled Hungary\u201d, and he regarded all of this, along with socialism, as the result of Jewish activity.<\/p>

In 1918, he completed his book The Swept-Away Village, which is set in Transylvania and Budapest and depicts the trends of the era that he considered destructive to Hungary. The book made him famous overnight. From the 1920s onward, anti-German sentiment was also evident in his works. Together with Endre Bajcsy-Zsilinszky, he edited a newspaper titled El\u0151\u00f6rs, in which they wrote in a \u201cracialist\u201d tone. Their views on the dangers threatening the Hungarian people were not entirely identical, for while Bajcsy-Zsilinszky considered the Germans the greatest threat, Szab\u00f3 identified the Jews as primary target of concern. However, his critical stance toward the Jewish community cannot be unequivocally categorized as extreme right-wing or vulgar anti-Semitic, as it is evident that he articulated equally condemnatory sentiments toward these groups as he did toward the Jewish community itself.<\/p>

In the 1930s, he initially supported Gyula G\u00f6mb\u00f6s\u2019s national work plan, but later turned away from it and gradually came into conflict with the leaders of the Horthy era. In 1932, he wrote The Resurrection in Makucska and in 1934, The Legend of the Rope. He clearly rejected international socialism and communism, which he considered to be anti-national. Politically, he sympathized more with Mussolini\u2019s fascism than with Hitler\u2019s National Socialism; indeed, he condemned the German occupation and the terror of the Arrow Cross regime.<\/p>

He died in 1945 at the age of sixty-five in Budapest, in the shelter of his apartment on R\u00e1k\u00f3czi Square. Death easily took his body, already weakened by starvation. His lyrical prose work, the autobiography titled My Lives, remained unfinished.<\/p>

He was educated, well-informed, and spoke several European languages. He quickly distinguished himself through his studies, his writings on public affairs, and, as a writer, his linguistic power. He was a highly influential innovator of 20th-century Hungarian literary language.<\/p>

His expressive style, his ability to create vivid imagery, and the conciseness of his message contribute to the vividness and dynamism of his writings. All the fashionable intellectual currents of the era leave their mark on his works, from positivism through the history of ideas to irrational philosophies. Among Hungarian literary traditions, his work is most deeply rooted in Romanticism; following in the footsteps of Endre Ady and Zsigmond M\u00f3ricz, he extols Hungarian identity in the context of intellectual history. He did not become a proponent of national racial theory or racism.<\/p>

His unspoken but genuine desire was for bourgeois emancipation. He aspired to reside as an autonomous, 20th-century Hungarian citizen. With the exception of a brief period at the turn of the 20th century, this was not a possibility in Hungary. This is the primary reason for his intellectual isolation and seclusion from the mid-1930s onward. This phenomenon can be attributed, in part, to his relative marginalization in literary education and literary propaganda from 1945 to 1990.<\/p>

https:\/\/szabodezso.webnode.hu\/eletrajz\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/div>
Recommended resources<\/strong><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
Szab\u00f3 Dezs\u0151 (1944): A b\u00f6lcs\u0151t\u0151l Budapestig, \u00c9leteim, sz\u00fclet\u00e9seim, hal\u00e1laim, felt\u00e1mad\u00e1saim; Pantheon, Budapest, 498 p.<\/div>
https:\/\/mtda.hu\/books\/szabo_dezso_a_bolcsotol_budapestig_Optimized.pdf<\/a>\u00a0<\/div><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
Gombos Gyula (1966): Szab\u00f3 Dezs\u0151; Aur\u00f3ra Kiad\u00f3, M\u00fcnchen, 421 p.<\/div>
https:\/\/opac.dia.hu\/record\/-\/record\/display\/manifestation\/Gombos_Gyula-Szabo_Dezso-00010\/0d9fc74a-06a2-400e-92a9-83394d230e70\/solr\/0\/24\/0\/3\/authorOrder\/ASC<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
Keresztes Csaba (2005): Szab\u00f3 Dezs\u0151 k\u00f6nyvt\u00e1ra; Arch\u00edvNet, 5. \u00e9vfolyam, 4. sz\u00e1m: pp. 1-2.<\/div>
https:\/\/www.archivnet.hu\/print\/513<\/a><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
K\u00f6nyvek; Tanulm\u00e1nyok; Riportok, interj\u00fak; Visszaeml\u00e9kez\u00e9sek; Alakja az irodalomban; Vide\u00f3k\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>
https:\/\/szabo-dezso.webnode.hu\/<\/a><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
Kov\u00e1cs D\u00e1vid (2014): Szab\u00f3 Dezs\u0151 nemzetszeml\u00e9lete az 1910-es \u00e9vek els\u0151\u00a0 fel\u00e9ben; Val\u00f3s\u00e1g, 57. \u00e9vf. 8 sz\u00e1m: pp. 19-33.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/div>
https:\/\/epa.oszk.hu\/02900\/02924\/00017\/pdf\/EPA02924_valosag_2014_5_019-033.pdf<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
Pomog\u00e1ts B\u00e9la (1989): Az elsodort falu 70 \u00e9ve; Tiszat\u00e1j 43. \u00e9vfolyam, 9. sz\u00e1m: pp. 89-92.<\/div>
https:\/\/tiszataj.bibl.u-szeged.hu\/14152\/1\/tiszataj_1989_009_089-092.pdf<\/a><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>

Papp Istv\u00e1n (2019): Az elsodort falu: 100 \u00e9ves a szuggeszt\u00edv \u00f6nfelment\u00e9s reg\u00e9nye; V\u00e1lasz Online
https:\/\/www.valaszonline.hu\/2019\/06\/03\/szabo-dezso-az-elsodort-falu-100\/<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>

Szab\u00f3 Dezs\u0151 tematikus honlap<\/div>
https:\/\/szabodezso.webnode.hu\/<\/span><\/a><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
Szab\u00f3 Dezs\u0151 tematikus YouTube-csatorna<\/div>
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@szabodezso1\/videos<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
Sz\u00e1m\u0171z\u00f6tt magyar irodalom – Szab\u00f3 Dezs\u0151
https:\/\/nava.hu\/id\/3596285\/<\/a><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
P\u00e9ter L\u00e1szl\u00f3 (2011): Szab\u00f3 Dezs\u0151 Cs\u00edkszentdomokoson; Tiszat\u00e1j 65. \u00e9vfolyam, 8. sz\u00e1m: pp. 68-76.\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>
https:\/\/epa.oszk.hu\/00700\/00713\/00239\/pdf\/tiszataj_EPA00713_2011-08_068-076.pdf<\/a><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div><\/div>

Tud\u00f3s-Tak\u00e1cs Ern\u0151 (2020): Szab\u00f3 Dezs\u0151 budapesti eml\u00e9kezete;\u00a0PestBuda\u00a0online v\u00e1rost\u00f6rt\u00e9neti \u00e9s kultur\u00e1lis foly\u00f3irat
<\/span>https:\/\/pestbuda.hu\/cikk\/20200202_tudos_takacs_erno_szabo_dezso_budapesti_emlekezete<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>

Papp Istv\u00e1n (2020): A Szab\u00f3 Dezs\u0151-k\u00e9rd\u00e9s a K\u00e1d\u00e1r-korszakban; \u00c1llambiztons\u00e1gi Szolg\u00e1latok T\u00f6rt\u00e9neti Lev\u00e9lt\u00e1ra, Podcastek \u00e9s vide\u00f3k.
<\/span>https:\/\/www.abtl.hu\/podcastok-es-videok\/a-szabo-dezso-kerdes-a-kadar-korszakban\/<\/a><\/p><\/div>

\u00a0<\/div>
Sz\u0151cs Zolt\u00e1n\u00a0(2019): A Szab\u00f3 Dezs\u0151 Eml\u00e9kt\u00e1rsas\u00e1g mint eml\u00e9k; A Hunnia foly\u00f3irat megsz\u00fclet\u00e9se \u00e9s kim\u00fal\u00e1sa; Antol\u00f3gia Kiad\u00f3, Lakitelek, 244 p.<\/span><\/div>
https:\/\/library.hungaricana.hu\/hu\/view\/RetorkiKonyvek_037\/?pg=0&layout=s<\/span><\/a><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div><\/div>
Farkas Attila (szerk.), Kov\u00e1cs D\u00e1vid (szerk.): \u00a0Szab\u00f3 Dezs\u0151 helye a magyar kult\u00far\u00e1ban; \u00a0MMA MMKI, Budapest, 210 p.
<\/span>https:\/\/mma-mmki.hu\/kiadvany\/szabo-dezso-helye-a-magyar-kulturaban\/<\/a><\/span><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Szab\u00f3 Dezs\u0151 \u00e9letrajza 1879-ben sz\u00fcletett Kolozsv\u00e1ron, kisnemesi tisztvisel\u0151 csal\u00e1d tizedik gyermekek\u00e9nt. A kolozsv\u00e1ri reform\u00e1tus gimn\u00e1ziumban \u00e9retts\u00e9gizett 1899-ben, majd a budapesti egyetemen folytatta tanulm\u00e1nyait magyar\u2013francia szakon. Egyetemi \u00e9vei alatt elm\u00e9ly\u00fclt a finnugor nyelv\u00e9szetben. Magyar\u2013francia szakos tan\u00e1ri diplom\u00e1j\u00e1nak megszerz\u00e9se ut\u00e1n r\u00f6vid ideig tan\u00edtott, majd P\u00e1rizsba ker\u00fclt \u00f6szt\u00f6nd\u00edjjal. Hazat\u00e9r\u00e9se ut\u00e1n tan\u00edtott Sz\u00e9kesfeh\u00e9rv\u00e1rott, Nagyv\u00e1radon \u00e9s Sz\u00e9kelyudvarhelyen, S\u00fcmegen, Ungv\u00e1ron, L\u0151cs\u00e9n. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-76","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/szd-folkhighschool.org.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/szd-folkhighschool.org.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/szd-folkhighschool.org.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/szd-folkhighschool.org.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/szd-folkhighschool.org.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/szd-folkhighschool.org.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":486,"href":"https:\/\/szd-folkhighschool.org.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76\/revisions\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/szd-folkhighschool.org.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}