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ThisspecialinterestintheliteratureoftheBalticnationssurvivedintothe
twentiethcentury.TranslationsofaseriesofworksbyEstoniannovelistswere
publishedinthe1930s.ThemostpopularFinnauthorsinHungaryincludeMika
WaltariandVäin öLinna,andthebestknownEstonianauthorisJaanKross.
DuringthefourdecadesofCommunistruleinHungary,readersalsobecame
acquaintedwithmanyolderandmodernauthorsofthevariousnationsofthe
formerUSSR,andmostoftheseauthorsweretranslatedintoHungarianvia
Russian.
Thebeginningsoftranslationtheory
TheoreticalstatementsabouttranslationbegantoappearinHungaryasearlyas
theseventeenthcentury,whenCardinalPéterPázm ányadvocatedidiomatic,
targetlanguageorientedtranslation.Overacenturylater,andatthesametime
thatFerencVerseghy’stranslationofLaMarseillaiseappeared(1794),
anotheradmireroftheFrenchrevolution,JánosBatsányi,attemptedtooffera
generaltheoryoftranslationinwhichheconcentratedontheoldparadoxof‘les
bellesinfidèles’(seeFRENCHTRADITION).
Otherscholarsadvocatedavarietyofprinciples.ThesentimentalistJózsef
Kármán(1769–95)objectedthattoomuchwastranslated.JózsefPéczeli
(1750–92)rejectedtheconceptoffreedomintranslation,andGáborDöbrentei
(1758–1851)wasmoreconcernedwithhowShakespearewouldhavewritten
hadhewritteninHungarian.
Towardsthemidnineteenthcentury,FerencToldy(1805–75),whois
consideredthefatherofHungarianliteraryhistory,distinguishedbetweenfidelity
tocontentandfidelitytoformanddeniedthepossiblecoexistenceofthetwo
types.KárolySzász(1829–1905),ontheotherhand,opposedthisviewand
succeededintranslatinggreatepicpoemsfromseverallanguagesand
introducingthemtotheHungarianreader.
AsummaryoftheseviewscanbefoundinRadó(1883).AntalRadó(1862–
1944)wasatranslatorofItalianpoetry,whoalsowroteatheoreticalworkon
theartoftranslation(Radó1909).
Beyondthenineteenthcentury
TranslatorsofthelatenineteenthandtwentiethcenturyintroducedHungarian
readerstoawiderangeofforeignliteratures.NearlyalltheworksofGoethe,
Schiller,Dickens,Balzac,Verne,Dumas,Hugo,Zola,IbsenandPoeappeared
inHungarian.TheArabianNightswastranslatedfromFrench.Almostevery
decadefrom1860onwardswitnessedthetranslationofanotherfamousRussian
novelist:Turgenevinthe1860s,Tolstoyinthe1870s,Dostoyevskiinthe
1880s,Chekhovinthe1890sandGorkyinthefirstdecadeofthetwentieth
century.
Threeoutstandingachievementsofthisperioddeservespecialmention.Károly
BérczybegantotranslatePushkin’sYevgenyOneginfromBodenstedt’s
Germanversionin1863,butthen,inspiredbytheatmosphereofthework,he
learnedtheRussianlanguageandfinishedtranslatingitfromtheoriginalin1866.
VilmosGyörynotonlytranslatedCervantes’DonQuixote(1873–6)butalso
wroteasimplifiedversionofitforyoungpeople(1875).Withitshighlyeffective
rhythmanddistinctiverhyme,EmilÁbrányi’sCyrano,basedonaversedrama
byRostand(1896),hasbeenassuccessfulinitsownrightasitsFrenchoriginal.
PromptedbytheclassicalscholarKárolyKerényi(1897–1973),thepublisher
Officinalaunchedaseriesofliterarytranslationsinthemid1930sunderthetitle
BilingualClassics,editedbyKerényi.
ThebestknownpoettranslatorsofthetwentiethcenturyincludedMihály
Babits(1883–1941),DezsöKosztolányi(1885–1936)andÁrpádTóth
(1886–1928),whobelongedtothegroupwhichpublishedinthereview
NyugatandundertooktoprovidethecompleteworksofShakespearein
Hungarian(seeabove).
Amongthosewhoproducedpoetictranslationsofworksbyvanguardauthors
suchasJamesJoyceandMarcelProust,themostoutstandingincludeAlbert
GyergyaiandMarcellBenedekforFrench,AladárSchöpflinandTivadar
SzinnaiforEnglish,JózsefTurócziTrostlerforGerman,JózsefRévayand
MihályAndrásRónaiforItalian,EndreGáspárforSpanish,HugóGallértand
ZoltánTrócsányiforRussian,JánosTomcsányiforPolish,HenrikHajduand
SándorKreutzerforScandinavian,andGyulaGermanus,ErvinBaktayand
RezsöHontifor