László Németh
Encyclopedia
László Németh was a Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 dentist, writer, dramatist and essayist. He was born in Nagybánya the son of József Németh (1873 – 1946) and Vilma Gaál (1879 – 1957). Over the Christmas of 1925, he married Ella Démusz (1905 – 1989), the daughter of János Démusz, a keeper of a public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

. Between 1926 and 1944 they had six daughters, but two of them died in infancy. In 1959 he visited the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. In the last part of his life he lived and worked in Sajkód. He died from a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...

 on 3 March 1975 in Budapest and was buried in Farkasréti Cemetery
Farkasréti Cemetery
Farkasréti Cemetery or Farkasrét Cemetery is one of the most famous cemeteries in Budapest. It was opened in 1894 and is noted for its spectacular sight towards the city ....

, Budapest, and now shares a grave with his wife.

Medical and teaching career

Németh was awarded a degree in dentistry
Dentistry
Dentistry is the branch of medicine that is involved in the study, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body. Dentistry is widely considered...

 in 1925, and worked in Szent János (Saint John) Hospital. He founded a dental practice, but later became a medical practitioner for schools.

In 1926 he opened his dental surgery, although he continued to work as a freelance at the Saint John's Hospital in the Department of Neurology
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...

. He was a medical practitioner for Toldy School from 1926 to 1927, at the Egressy Street School from 1928 to 1931, and at Medve Street School from 1933 to 1943, when he retired as a medical practitioner. In the winter of 1927 he contracted tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 and travelled to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 and Felsőgöd
Göd
- Industry :Göd is famous for its thriving tourism. It has a thermal spa open almost 365 days a year with its water already declared as rich in minerals...

 to convalesce
Convalescence
Convalescence is the gradual recovery and of health and strength after illness. It refers to the later stage of an infectious disease or illness when the patient recovers and returns to normal, but may continue to be a source of infection even if feeling better...

, retiring from his career as a dentist.

Between 1945 and 1948 he was a casual teacher in the history of Hungarian literature, in mathematics, and other subjects, at the grammar school in Hódmezővásárhely
Hódmezovásárhely
Hódmezővásárhely , Romanian: Ioneşti) is a city in south-east Hungary, on the Great Hungarian Plain, at the meeting point of the Békés-Csanádi Ridge and the clay grassland surrounding the river Tisza...

. In 1946 Minister of Education Dezső Keresztúry
Dezső Keresztury
Dezső Keresztury was a Hungarian poet and politician, who served as Minister of Religion and Education between 1945 and 1947. He became member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1982.-References:*...

 offered him a job as a school inspector for the College of Further Education, and he worked arranging the college's curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...

.

Literary career

In December 1925 Németh won the first prize in a competition run by Nyugat
Nyugat
Nyugat , was the most influential Hungarian literary journal in the first half of the 20th century. Writers and poets from that era are referred to as "1st/2nd/3rd generation of the NYUGAT"....

 magazine for his novel , ("Mrs Horváth Died").

From 1926 he wrote articles and book reviews for Nyugat magazine, the ("Protestant Review", ("Social Science"), ("Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

n Helikon") and ("Sunrise"), for which he was the leading critic until 1931. (In the "Protestant Review" and "Sunrise" he wrote under the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...

 of László Lelkes.

In 1927 he became a staff writer for . The following year he and his wife travelled to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. In 1929 he had his first novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 published in that magazine, ("Human Play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

"). In 1930, he was awarded the Baumgarten Prize
Baumgarten Prize
The Baumgarten Prize was founded by Ferenc Ferdinánd Baumgarten on October 17, 1923. It was awarded every year from 1929 to 1949...

, but he returned it after receiving criticism from Lajos Hatvany. In 1931 he took a – the equivalent of a General Certificate of Education
General Certificate of Education
The General Certificate of Education or GCE is an academic qualification that examination boards in the United Kingdom and a few of the Commonwealth countries, notably Sri Lanka, confer to students. The GCE traditionally comprised two levels: the Ordinary Level and the Advanced Level...

 – in Greek language
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

, and later he studied it at university for a short while.
On 29 November 1931 he attended a literary dinner in Debrecen
Debrecen
Debrecen , is the second largest city in Hungary after Budapest. Debrecen is the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar county.- Name :...

 hosted by the Ady Association, where five folk writers
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

 (József Erdélyi, Gyula Illyés
Gyula Illyés
Gyula Illyés was a Hungarian poet and novelist. He was one of the so called népi writers, named so because they aimed to show – propelled by strong sociological interest and left-wing convictions – the disadvantageous conditions of their native land.-Early life:He was born...

, János Kodolányi
János Kodolányi
János Kodolányi Hungarian writer of short stories, dramas, novels and sociographies.-Prose and politics:...

, Lőrinc Szabó
Lorinc Szabó
Lőrinc Szabó de Gáborján was a Hungarian poet and literary translator.-Biography:He was born in Miskolc as the son of an engine driver, Lőrinc Szabó sr., and Ilona Panyiczky. The family moved to Balassagyarmat when he was 3 years old. He attended school in Balassagyarmat and Debrecen. He studied...

 and himself) were warmly received at their public reading.

His relationship with Nyugat magazine was somewhat strained, and in the 1930s he had confrontations with the editor, Mihály Babits
Mihály Babits
Mihály Babits was a Hungarian poet, writer and translator.- Biography :...

, who was a trustee of the Baumgarten Foundation., because of his criticism of Sophie Török. His relationship with Nyugat broke down. In 1943 he wrote a monograph ("Instead of me") in which he stated that one of the reasons for this breakdown was Kodolányi, who disliked the fact that Németh had written a strongly worded letter to Lóránt Basch, who was also a trustee of the Baumgarten Foundation, suggesting that Kodolányi should be given financial assistance. Because of this, the other trustee, Mihály Babits
Mihály Babits
Mihály Babits was a Hungarian poet, writer and translator.- Biography :...

 didn’t want to help him. It ended embarrassingly, as Németh was in Babits' flat when Basch telephoned Babits to tell him about Németh’s letter.

On 26 September Németh founded the ("Witness") magazine, which published 17 issues until 1937. From April 1934 he edited the ("Answer") newspaper with Lajos Fülep and Pál Gulyás and from 1934 to 1935 he was Head of the Department of Literature at the Magyar Rádió (Hungarian Radio Corporation). During his leadership he tried to encourage and promote contemporary Hungarian literature. In his programmes there were many writers and poets who read their own works and discussed them with Németh – they became well-known at the time. The programme became very popular and it influenced later Hungarian literature and the Hungarian Radio Corporation’s programme scheduling policy.
In 1934 Németh’s had his first book published, ("Human and role"). In 1935 he joined in the ("New Intellectual Front") and worked for the Sziget
Sziget
The Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary is one of the largest music and cultural festivals in Europe. It is held every August on the Northern Budapest Óbudai-sziget , a leafy island of 108 hectares on the Danube. Sziget stands for Island...

("Island") periodical and Magyarságtudomány ("Hungarian Science").

On 30 March 1938 the National Theatre
National Theatre (Budapest)
The National Theatre is the main theatre of Budapest, and the largest such institution in Hungary, opening originally in 1837. Its company used several locations since then, including the original building at the Kerepesi street, and the People's Theatre at the Blaha Lujza Square...

 premiere
Premiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...

d one of his plays, Villámfénynél ("Lightning"). Later on the theatre had two other productions based on his works: Papucshős ("Silent Hero") on 4 November 1939, and Cseresznyés ("Cherry Orchard") on 10 January 1942. On 13 May 1939 the National Theatre introduced his historical play, VII. Gergely ("Gregory VII").

Between 1939 and 1942 he was assistant to Zsigmond Móricz
Zsigmond Móricz
Zsigmond Móricz was a major Hungarian novelist and Social Realist. He was among the earliest significant literary figures writing in Hungarian.- Early life and education :...

 at the Kelet Népe ("Eastern Nation") magazine. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 he worked for Kelet Népe, the Híd ("Bridge") and the Magyar Csillag ("Hungarian Star") periodicals. Németh collected his monographs and published them in a book called A minőség forradalma ("The Revolution of Quality"). He was one of the lecturers at a conference in Szárszó. At this conference he made a statement about Judaism, which influenced his life and others' attitude towards his works.
From 1944 and on, when he made the same speech at conferences he omitted his remarks about Judaism.

From 19 March 1944, during the German occupation he lived in Göd, Szilasbalhás and Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

. For a short while he stopped writing articles for magazines. After the Soviet Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 occupied Budapest, Németh and his family moved to Békés
Békés
Békés is a town in Békés county, Hungary. It lies about north of Békéscsaba and east of Budapest.- History :The area of the present town has been inhabited since ancient times, due to its good soil and proximity to rivers. After Hungarians conquered the area, Békés and its surroundings were the...

.

In 1969 the publishers Magvető and Szépirodali Könyvkiadó published his Collected Works.

Awards

  • 1951 – the Attila József Prize for his translation of Leo Tolstoy
    Leo Tolstoy
    Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...

    's work Anna Karenina
    Anna Karenina
    Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger...

  • 1957 – the Kossuth Prize
    Kossuth Prize
    The Kossuth Prize is a state-sponsored award in Hungary, named after the Hungarian politician and revolutionary Lajos Kossuth. The Prize was established in 1948 by the Hungarian National Assembly, to acknowledge outstanding personal and group achievements in the fields of...

     (he gave the prize money to the Hódmezővásárhely school's library)
  • 1961 – Gold Order of Merit for Work
  • 1965 – the Herder Prize
    Herder Prize
    The Herder Prize, established in 1963 and named for Johann Gottfried von Herder, was a prestigious international prize dedicated to the promotion of scientific, art and literature relations, and presented to scholars and artists from Central and Southeastern Europe whose life and work have improved...

  • 1968 – the Batsányi Prize.

Works

The English names of the works are approximate translations and are not published titles of them.

Novels

  • Emberi Színjáték (1929) ("Human Play")

  • Gyász (1935) ("Mourning")


The protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

 Zsófi Kurátor has lost her husband. After she loses her child too, she spends the rest of her life in mourning. Because she follows the rules of a widow, people in her village treat her as an outcast. The whole community scrutinises her every act: can no man tempt her?
  • Iszony (1947) ("Loathing")


The protagonist Nelli Kárász is a loner and uninterested in men. After her arranged marriage
Arranged marriage
An arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...

, Nelli’s marriage and life are unhappy. She hates being dependent on her husband, hates the prison of her marriage. Her husband, Sanyi Takaró, abuses her body and soul. Nelli tries to be a good housekeeper, but at the same time a bad wife, because she wants to annoy her husband in the hope that he will leave her. Her husband, however, tries to make his marriage as happy as possible and looks up to his wife as a goddess. Sanyi becomes jealous of one of their friends, even though he knows that Nelli is not interested in him. As the marriage goes downhill Sanyi has affairs with servant girls. The marriage ends with his death: he is very ill and, against doctor's advice, he tries to have sex with Nelli, who resists. In the middle of the battle his heart stops as Nelli smothers his face with a pillow. It is not clear whether he dies of choking
Choking
Choking is the mechanical obstruction of the flow of air from the environment into the lungs. Choking prevents breathing, and can be partial or complete, with partial choking allowing some, although inadequate, flow of air into the lungs. Prolonged or complete choking results in asphyxia which...

 or suffocation
Asphyxia
Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of severely deficient supply of oxygen to the body that arises from being unable to breathe normally. An example of asphyxia is choking. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which primarily affects the tissues and organs...

.
  • Égető Eszter (1948) ("Burning Eszter")


The protagonist Eszter tries to fight against life's difficulties. She has three children and a happy marriage, until her husband cheats on her. She looks after her father, helps with their farm, and supports village life. Eszter struggles to make her home, marriage and life happy.
  • Irgalom ("Mercy")

Plays

  • Bodnárné (1931) ("Mrs Bodnár")
  • II. József ("Joseph II
    Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
    Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...

    ")
  • VII. Gergely ("Gregory VII
    Pope Gregory VII
    Pope St. Gregory VII , born Hildebrand of Sovana , was Pope from April 22, 1073, until his death. One of the great reforming popes, he is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, his dispute with Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor affirming the primacy of the papal...

    ")
  • Villámfénynél ("Lightning")
  • Pusztuló magyarok (1936–1946) ("Dying Hungarians")
  • Papucshős (1938) ("Silent Hero")
  • Erzsébet-nap (1940–46) ("Saint Elisabeth's
    Elisabeth of Hungary
    Elizabeth of Hungary, T.O.S.F., was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, Countess of Thuringia, Germany and a greatly-venerated Catholic saint. Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. She then became one of the first members of the newly-founded Third Order of St. Francis,...

     Day")
  • Széchenyi (1946) ("Széchenyi")
  • Eklézsia-megkövetés (1946) ("Megkövetés Ecclesiology
    Ecclesiology
    Today, ecclesiology usually refers to the theological study of the Christian church. However when the word was coined in the late 1830s, it was defined as the science of the building and decoration of churches and it is still, though rarely, used in this sense.In its theological sense, ecclesiology...

    ")
  • Husz János (1948) ("Jan Hus
    Jan Hus
    Jan Hus , often referred to in English as John Hus or John Huss, was a Czech priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague...

    ")
  • Galilei (1953) ("Galilei
    Galileo Galilei
    Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...

    ")
  • Az áruló (1954) ("The Traitor")
  • Petőfi Mezőberényben (1954) ("Petőfi in Mezőberény
    Mezoberény
    Mezőberény is a town in Békés county, Hungary. It is located in the southern Great Alföld. In this town the road from Debrecen to Szeged crosses the railway line from Budapest to Bucharest.- Famous persons :* Soma Orlai Petrich painter...

    ")
  • Apáczai (1955) ("Apáczai
    János Apáczai Csere
    János Apáczai Csere was a Transylvanian Hungarian polyglot and mathematician, famous for his work The Hungarian Encyclopedia, the first textbook to be written in Hungarian...

    ")
  • A két Bolyai (1961) ("The two Bolyais") (Bolyai is a family name)
  • Csapda ("Trap")
  • Gandhi halála ("Gandhi's Death")
  • Nágy próféta (verses) ("The Four Apostles
    Apostle (Christian)
    The term apostle is derived from Classical Greek ἀπόστολος , meaning one who is sent away, from στέλλω + από . The literal meaning in English is therefore an "emissary", from the Latin mitto + ex...

    ") (in poetic form)
  • Utazás (1961) ("Journey")
  • Nagy család ("Large Family")
  • Harc a jólét ellen (1964) ("Fight Against Luxury")

Essays

  • A minőség forradalma (1940) ("The Revolution of Quality")
  • Készülődés (1941) ("Preparation")
  • Kisebbségben (1942) ("In the Minority")
  • Sajkódi esték (1961) ("Evenings in Sajkód")
  • A kísérletező ember (1963) ("The Experimental Human")

Memorials

  • A statue by Róbert Csíkszentmihályi, unveiled on 28 April 2006 at the corner of Pasarét and Radnai streets in Budapest.
  • László Németh Prize
  • László Németh Grammar School, Budapest XIII.
  • László Németh Lyceum
    Lyceum
    The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies between countries; usually it is a type of secondary school.-History:...

    , Nagybánya, at 1 Luminişului Street
  • László Németh Primary School, Budapest VIII.
  • László Németh Primary School, Felsőgöd
    Göd
    - Industry :Göd is famous for its thriving tourism. It has a thermal spa open almost 365 days a year with its water already declared as rich in minerals...

  • László Németh Primary School, Mezőszilas
    Mezoszilas
    - External links :*...

  • László Németh Primary School, Székesfehérvár
    Székesfehérvár
    Székesfehérvár is a city in central Hungary and is the 9th largest in the country. Located around southwest of Budapest. It is inhabited by 101,973 people , with 136,995 in the Székesfehérvár Subregion. The city is the centre of Fejér county and the regional centre of Central Transdanubia...


External links and sources

All the following links and sources are in Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

.

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