Nyugat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nyugat, meaning "West", was a Hungarian literary journal, probably the most important in the first half of the 20th century. Writer and poet generations of the age are still referred to as "1st/2nd/3rd generation of the NYUGAT".
It was founded in 1908 and initially edited by Ignotus (Hugo Veigelsberg), Ernő Osvát, and Miksa Fenyő. It was originally inspired by a theme of receptivity to styles and philosophies current in Western Europe including naturalism, symbolism, and impressionism. Nyugat published both poetry and prose writing.
The first generation included the poets Endre Ady, Árpád Tóth, Mihály Babits, Dezső Kosztolányi, Gyula Juhász, Géza Gyóni and the novelists Gyula Krúdy and Zsigmond Móricz.
During World War I, Nyugat was challenged by leftist literary circles and it eventually evolved toward more frustrated and depressed tones about the war itself.
The second generation of NYUGAT writers in the twenties like Lőrinc Szabó, József Fodor, György Sárközi showed post-expressionist tendencies. Poets of this generation included Attila József, Gyula Illyés, Miklós Radnóti and József Erdélyi. Prose writer Sándor Márai wrote family sagas and about social change. László Németh and Tibor Déry were also important novelists of this era.
The third generation in the thirties is sometimes referred to as the "essayist" generation and included Antal Szerb, László Szabó, and Gábor Halász as well as the poets Sándor Weöres, István Vas, Jenő Dsida, Zoltán Zelk, Gábor Devecseri, György Rónay, Zoltán Jékely, László Kálnoky.
It is a lesser known historical fact that The NYUGAT periodical, which was the first Hungarian language periodical to introduce many of the great Western philosophers, such as Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, etc., had a very significant impact on the mind-set of many of Hungary's most prominent scientists and intellectuals, including those who won Nobel prizes, and therefor it can be said, that The NYUGAT periodical was key to the development of modern-day computing and physics. Unfortunately, the Western world is not sufficiently aware of its relevance.
This coming January the 8th marks the 100th Anniversary birth of the NYUGAT.
