Photo: Eszter Gordon
Határ, who left Hungary to settle in the UK after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution was crushed, died in London on November 27 at the age of 93. His wife, Piroska Prágai, had died just ten days earlier.
Minister of Education and Culture István Hiller delivered a eulogy. In attendance at the ceremony were UK Ambassador to Budapest John Nichols and Lady Valerie Solti, the widow of Sir Georg Solti.
Győző Határ was born Viktor Hack in Gyoma, southeast Hungary, on November 13, 1914. His father was an ethnic German from Transylvania, who worked at a printing press in Gyoma.
Határ started school in Budapest and, at the age of 15, he wrote an essay which he sent to the Hungarian writer Sándor Márai. The two men eventually met, in San Diego, in 1978.
Határ graduated with a degree in architecture in 1938. In the same year, he wrote his first novel, which he personally distributed. The authorities, however, banned the book. His first poems were provocative and playfully erotic. His 1943 novel "Land Of Miracles Lower Eurasia" was also banned and he was sentenced to five years in prison. Because of the war, he served only one and a half years of his sentence.
He was allowed to publish again in 1945, but was expelled from the writers' association in 1949. He wrote the satirical novel "Heliane" in 1947, which was pulped by the new communist regime (with only a few copies surviving). A collection of poems entitled "Liturgikon" was allowed to be published, but in 1950 Határ was again sentenced to two years in prison for a border violation.
After being released, he again worked as an architect and translator from English, German, Russian, French and Spanish, even though he was not fluent in some of these languages. A communist cultural politician at the time, Imre Keszi, said Huxley, Határ and Márai were the main representatives of dangerous bourgeois literature. He emigrated in 1956 and moved to London in 1957. Until 1976, he was a contributor to the BBC Hungarian broadcast. He also taught Hungarian to British diplomats for 25 years.
Határ worked in almost every literary genre with the aim of blurring the distinctions between them. His works for the theatre included "Golghelóghi" (1976), a play in nine parts which addresses in philosophical terms the rule of Satan in the world. The two-part "Mangún" is a tragic parable which shows how unconditional love for a tyrant can lead to disgrace. Határ wrote about 40 plays for the theatre. Additionally, he wrote radio plays. Only three of his plays have ever been staged in Hungary: the "Rat King" in 1987, the "Birth of Jesus Christ" in 1989 and "Elephant Herd" in 1992.
Although Határ's works have become avant-garde classics, they are not easy reads for the masses. While creating a huge oeuvre, he remained active as an architect, government advisor and radio contributor. With his virtuoso handling of the Hungarian language, he mocked the affected pathos of nationalistic literature, criticised Hungarians' self-pity, slowness and provincialism.
Határ considered his works in philosophy more important than his literary achievements. He focused his research on the philosophy of history and of epistemology. He took a rather conservative stand, despite being an atheist, a cosmopolitan and an individualist.
After emigrating in 1956, his first work in Hungary was published only in 1983. He received the highest Hungarian award for the arts, the Kossuth Award, in 1991. He became a member of the Széchenyi Academy in 1994 and the Hungarian Art Academy in 2001, the same year he received the Márai award. Határ became a life member of the Hungarian Writers' Association in 2005.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
Minister of Education and Culture István Hiller delivers the eulogy.
