István Simon

Simon, István 

Born Sept. 16, 1926, in Bazsi, in the megye (county) of Veszprém; died July 7, 1975, in Budapest. Hungarian poet.

Simon graduated from the philology department of the University of Budapest in 1952. From 1964 to 1974 he was editor of the journal Kortárs, and in 1974 he became secretary of the Hungarian Writers’ Union.

Even Simon’s early poetry, including the collection Ripening Days (1953; A. József Prize, 1954), was characterized by a harmoniously integrated perception of the world. Civic spirit and a striving for a philosophical interpretation of life are combined in his collections of lyric poetry, for example, No, It Is Not Enough (1955; L. Kossuth Prize, 1955), February Rainbow (1959), Grapes and Chestnuts (1966; A. József Prize, 1967), In an Endless Circle (1973), and An Amazing Burden (1976). Simon was the author of many essays, the monograph Hungarian Literature (1973), and the collection of articles In the Writer’s Study (1976).

WORKS

In Russian translation:
Stikhi. Moscow, 1961.
[“Stikhi.”] In the collection Sovremennaia vengerskaia poeziia. Moscow, 1973.

REFERENCES

Rossiianov, O. K. “Tri poeta.” Inostrannaia literatura, 1968, no. 3.
Lakshin, V. “Dom Ishtvana Simona.” Inostrannaia literatura, 1976, no. 8.