Attila József

Who is Attila József?

Attila József was a Hungarian poet widely regarded as one of the greatest Hungarian literary figures of the 20th century. Born in Budapest to a poor working-class family, his father abandoned the household when he was a child, and he grew up in hardship that deeply informed his poetry's themes of poverty, alienation, and social injustice. He studied at several universities in Hungary, France, and Austria, absorbing influences from Marxist thought and psychoanalysis, both of which shaped the intellectual depth of his verse. His poetry combines formal craftsmanship with raw emotional honesty, addressing love, class struggle, existential anguish, and a search for belonging, in collections such as "Medvetánc" ("Bear Dance") and later works written during periods of psychological distress. He struggled throughout his life with mental illness and was expelled from the Hungarian Communist Party for his independent views. In 1937, at the age of thirty-two, he died after being struck by a freight train in Balatonszárszó, an event generally regarded as suicide brought on by severe depression. Since his death, Attila József has become one of the most widely read and taught poets in Hungary, with his birthday, April 11, marked as the Day of Hungarian Poetry.

Sources: Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum (Petőfi Literary Museum), József Attila collection · Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Attila József" · Kabdebó Lóránt, biographical and critical studies of József Attila