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See also:KISFALUDY, KAROLY [CHARLES1 (1788-1830), Hungarian author, was See also:born at The. near Raab, on the 6th of See also:February
1788. His See also:birth cost his See also:mother her See also:life and himself his See also:father's of See also:September 1772, educated at Raab, and graduated in See also:philosophy and See also:jurisprudence at See also:Pressburg. He See also:early See also:fell under the See also:influence of See also:Schiller and See also:Kleist, and devoted himself to the resuscitation of the almost See also:extinct Hungarian literature. Disgusted with his profession, the See also:law, he entered the Life See also:Guards (1793) and plunged into the See also:gay life of See also:Vienna, cultivating literature, learning See also:French, See also:German and See also:Italian, See also:painting, sketching, assiduously frequenting the See also:theatre, and consorting on equal terms with all the See also:literary celebrities of the See also:Austrian See also:capital. In 1796 he was transferred to the See also:army in See also:Italy for being concerned with some of his See also:brother See also:officers of the Vienna See also:garrison in certain irregularities. When See also:Milan was captured by See also:Napoleon Kisfaludy was sent a prisoner of See also:war to See also:Vaucluse, where he studied See also:Petrarch with See also:enthusiasm and fell violently in love with See also:Caroline D'Esclapon, a kindred spirit to whom he addressed his See also:melancholy Himfy See also:Lays, the first See also:part of the subsequently famous sonnets. On returning to See also:Austria he served with some distinction in the See also:campaigns of 1798 and 1799 on the See also:Rhine and in See also:Switzerland; but tiring of a military life and disgusted at the slowness of his promotion, he quitted the army in September 1799, and married his old love Roza Szegedy at the beginning of 1800. The first five happy years of their life were passed at Kam in Vas See also:county, but in 1805 they removed to Sumeg where Kisfaludy gave himself up entirely to literature.
At the beginning of the 19th See also:century he had published a See also:volume of erotica which made him famous, and his reputation was still further increased by his Reggie or Tales. During the troublous times of 1809, when the gentry of Zala county founded a See also:confederation, the See also:palatine appointed Kisfaludy one of his adjutants. Subsequently, by command, he wrote an See also:account of the See also:movement for presentation to See also: In 1822 he started the See also:Aurora with his younger brother Karoly (see above). When the See also:academy was founded in 1830 Kisfaludy was the first county member elected to it. In 1835 he resigned because he was obliged to See also:share the See also:honour of winning the academy's See also:grand prize with See also:Vorosmarty. After the See also:death of his first wife (1832) he married a second See also:time, but by neither of his wives had he any See also:child. The See also:remainder of his days were spent in his See also:Tusculum among the vineyards of Sumeg and Somla. He died on the 28th of See also:October 1844. See also: Far less successful were his plays, of which Hunyddi Janos (1816), by far the longest See also:drama in the Hungarian See also:language, need alone be mentioned. undying hatred. He entered the army as a See also:cadet in 1804; saw active service in Italy, See also:Servia and See also:Bavaria (1805-1809), especially distinguishing himself at the See also:battle of See also:Leoben (May 25, 1809), and returned to his quarters at Pest with the See also:rank of first See also:lieutenant. It was during the war that he composed his first poems, e.g. the tragedy Gyilkos (" The See also:Murder," 1808), and numerous See also:martial songs for the encouragement of his comrades. It was now, too, that he fell hopelessly in love with the beautiful Katalin Heppler, the daughter of a wealthy See also:tobacco See also:merchant. Tiring of the monotony of a soldier's life, yet unwilling to See also:sacrifice his See also:liberty to follow See also:commerce or enter the See also:civil service, Kisfaludy, contrary to his father's wishes, now threw up his See also:commission and made his See also:home at the See also:house of a married See also:sister at Vorrock, where he could follow his inclinations. In 1812 he studied painting at the Vienna academy and supported himself precariously by his See also:brush and See also:pencil, till the theatre at Vienna proved a still stronger attraction. In 1812 he wrote the tragedy Kldra Zack, and in 1815 went to Italy to study art more thoroughly. But he was back again within six months, and for the next three years flitted from See also:place to place, living on the charity of his See also:friends, lodging in hovels and dashing off scores of daubs which rarely found a See also:market. The See also:united and repeated petitions of the whole Kisfaludy See also:family failed to bring about a reconciliation between the See also:elder Kisfaludy and his prodigal son. It was the success of his drama Ilka, written for the Fehervar dramatic society, that first made him famous and prosperous. The See also:play was greeted with enthusiasm both at Fehervar and Buda (1819). Subsequent plays, The See also:Voivode Stiber and The Petitioners (the first See also:original Magyar dramas), were equally successful. Kisfaludy's fame began to spread. He had found his true vocation as the creator of the Hungarian drama. In May 182o he wrote three new plays for the dramatic society (he could always turn out a five-See also:act drama in four days) which still further increased his reputation. From 1820 onwards, under the influence of the great critic Kazinczy, he learnt to See also:polish and refine his See also:style, while his friend and adviser Gyorgy Gaal (who translated some of his dramas for the Vienna See also:stage) introduced him to the See also:works of See also:Shakespeare and See also:Goethe. By this time Kisfaludy had evolved a literary theory of his own which inclined towards romanticism; and in collaboration with his elder brother Alexander (see below) he founded the periodical Aurora(1822),which he edited to the day of his death. The Aurora was a notable phenomenon in Magyar literature. It attracted towards it many of the rising young authors of the day (including Vorosmarty, See also:Bajza and Czuczor) and speedily became the See also:oracle of the romanticists. Kisfaludy's material position had now greatly improved, but he could not shake off his old recklessness and generosity, and he was never able to pay a tithe of his debts. The publication of Aurora so engrossed his time that practically he abandoned the stage. But he contributed to Aurora See also:ballads, epigrams, See also:short epic pieces, and, best of all, his comic stories. Kisfaludy was in fact the founder of the school of Magyar humorists and his comic types amuse and delight to this day. When the folk-See also:tale became popular in See also:Europe, Kisfaludy set to See also:work upon folk-tales also and produced (1828) some of the masterpieces of that genre. He died on the 21st of See also:November 1830. Six years later the great literary society of See also:Hungary, the Kisfaludy Tdrsasdg, was founded to commemorate his See also:genius. Apart from his own works it is the supreme merit of Kisfaludy to have revived and nationalized the Magyar literature, giving it a range and See also:scope undreamed of before his time. The first edition of Kisfaludy's works, in to volumes, appeared at Buda in 1831, shortly after his death, but the 7th edition (See also:Budapest 1893) is the best and fullest. See Ferule Toldy, Lives of the Magyar Poets (Hung.) (Budapest, 1870); Zsolt See also:Beothy, The Father of Hungarian See also:Comedy (Budapest, 1882) ; Tamas Szana, The Two Kisfaludys (Hung.) (Budapest, 1876). Kisfaludy's struggles and adventures are also most vividly described in See also:Jokai's novel, Eppur si muove (Hung.). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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