Gyula Krúdy

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Gyula Krúdy (October 21, 1878 May 12, 1933) was a Hungarian writer and journalist.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Gyula Krúdy was born in Nyíregyháza, Hungary. His father was a lawyer and his mother was a maid working for the aristocratic Krúdy family. His parents did not marry until Gyula was 17 years old. In his teens, Gyula published newspaper pieces and began writing short stories. Although his father wanted him to become a lawyer, Gyula worked as an editor at a newspaper for several years, then moved to Budapest. He was disinherited, but supported his wife (also a writer) and children through the publication of two collections of short stories. Sinbad's Youth, published in 1911, proved a success, and Krudy used the character, a man who shared the name of the hero of the Arabian Nights, many times throughout his career.

Krúdy's novels about Budapest were popular during the First World War and the Hungarian Revolution, but he was often broke due to excessive drinking, gambling and philandering. His first marriage fell apart. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Krúdy's health declined and his readership dwindled. In the years after his death, his works were largely forgotten until 1940, when Hungarian novelist Sándor Márai published Sinbad Comes Home, a fictionalized account of Krúdy's last day. This book's success brought Krúdy's works back to the Hungarian public.

He was called "a Hungarian Proust" by Charles Champlin in The New York Times.


[edit] Select Bibliography

[edit] Translated into English

  • Sunflower (1918, published in English in 2007), Hungarian title: Napraforgó ISBN 1590171861
  • The Adventures of Sinbad (19??, published in English in 1998), Hungarian title: Szinbád kalandjai ISBN 9639116122l
  • The Crimson Coach (1913, published in English translation by P. Tabori in 1967) Hungarian title: A vörös póstakocsi
  • Krudy's Chronicles (Selections of K's journalism, translated by John Batki, published in English in 2000) ISBN 963-9116-78-5
  • "Ladies Day" (1919, published in English in 2007), Hungarian title: Asszonysagok dija ISBN 978 963 13 55499

[edit] External links