Szilárd Demeter:Géza Szőcs 70 – Commemorative Evening at the Petőfi Literary Museum 2023. on 9 November

We know who Géza Szőcs was. Do we know? We don’t know. There were many Géza Szőcs, each of them had a Géza. Géza himself appeared in various ways, as the mood took him. Sometimes as a Hungarian, other times as a Chinese, or a dolphin, or a swan who returned from America as an Indian, came to help Father Bem at Segesvár, and so on ad infinitum. He was able to be both King Attila the Hun and the producer of a Hollywood production making a film about Attila. Who Géza Szőcs was, we do not know, but it is not our business to know, it was enough to guess that he at least knew when and why he changed his form.

Gábor Görgey has passed away

This morning, at 7.34am, I received this text message. Then, I thought, he could be sitting at István Vas’s table again, next to Ferenc Juhász and István Kormos, as I first saw them together in the spring of 1960.

Itamar Jáoz-Keszt passed away

Once again, one of the greats has gone. ITAMAR JÁOZ-KESZT, the world-famous poet and literary translator, born in Szarvas, Hungary, has lived in Israel since 1951, died on February 11, the 29th of the month of Swat. He was 87 years old.

Albatross, ostrich, swan…

Géza Szőcs has left us. From today, the sun will rise differently and nothing will be the same. We could list, as one does in an obituary, his titles, his awards, his rank, his status – but those who knew him, beyond being aware of all this, know that a much greater tragedy has occurred.

In memory of János Benyhe

A marble plaque was erected by the Hungarian PEN Club. The monument was unveiled on 23 October in Budapest. Below is a eulogy by the linguist-journalist, literary translator, read at the memorial plaque by his son, poet István Benyhe.

Deceased Károly Vekov

On the seventh of October, our fellow member Károly Vekov, historian, writer and former member of the Parliament of Cluj passed away at the age of 73.

Ádám Makkai passed away

Ádám Makkai was a retired professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who did much to promote the international recognition of Hungarian literature. The MMA considers Ádám Makkai as its own dead.