András Petöcz
Encyclopedia
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, 27 August 1959- )
Life
Petőcz began his career in literary life in 1981. He was the chief editor for over two years of the art periodical Jelenlét (Presence)., which was published by the Faculty of Humanities at the Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences in Budapest, and soon became a significant forum on contemporary literature. He graduated from Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences in 1986 where he studied Hungarian Literature and Language-History.After obtaining his degree he was an assistant at Gorkii State Library for a short time, and then worked as an editor for longer and shorter periods on literary magazines. Since then he has been working as a professional writer.
Petőcz has taken part in several international literary and art festivals, e.g. in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(1986), in Tarascon
Tarascon
Tarascon , sometimes referred to as Tarascon-sur-Rhône, is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France.-Geography:...
(France, 1988), in Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
(1995). He has been working as a university and college lecturer for seven years.
Poetry
He also edited several volumes of avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
literature and worked as organizer for a variety of events showcasing experimental literature. He also was the editor of "Medium Art", a Selection of Hungarian Experimental Poetry. In the eighties he was one of the "leaders" of Hungarian avant-garde poetry, having begun to work on sound poetry
Sound poetry
Sound poetry is an artistic form bridging between literary and musical composition, in which the phonetic aspects of human speech are foregrounded instead of more conventional semantic and syntactic values; "verse without words"...
during the period. His visual and concrete poetry
Concrete poetry
Concrete poetry or shape poetry is poetry in which the typographical arrangement of words is as important in conveying the intended effect as the conventional elements of the poem, such as meaning of words, rhythm, rhyme and so on....
is well known. Béla Vilcsek writes about his poetry: "Legends and extremes accompany András Petőcz on his home ground. He always has a dichotomy, either wanting to pay respects to classicism or to modernity, conservatism or avant-garde, sonnet or free verse, tradition or the new. In his mid-thirties, he already commands an authoritative reputation with his life-work, in both its quantity and quality. There are few writers like this among those in his field."
Prose
The more than six prose books András Petőcz has published contain essays and reviews such as Idegenként, Európában (As a Stranger in Europe, 1997, ISBN 963-9101-02-8), a series of short stories called Egykor volt házibarátaink (Once We Had House Friends, Chapters from a Family Saga, 2002, ISBN 963-547-632-9), and two novels A születésnap (The Birthday, 2006, ISBN 963-9651-20-6) and Idegenek (Strangers, 2007, ISBN 978-963-9651-54-8).The Birthday
The novel is a family story over a period of 30 years. Tony the little boy narrator is special in that he does not get older. He remains a child as he looks at events around him. Everyone is preparing for the birthday of the head of the family while they look at the Big Photo Album. The 30 years of the novel brings to life what happened from the early sixties to the nineties, how people lived in Central Europe and refers to the change of system in Hungary in 1989. The little boy narrator, still waiting in vain for his father at the beginning of the celebrations, becomes a man due to his missing father and his memories. He tells the family stories "in one breath" using spoken expressions and personal remarks.Károly D. Balla writes about A születésnap: “The author, who is himself on the threshold of dreams, redeems historical and family tragedies with angelic good humour, and what might make an adult grumpy and ill is rendered tolerable by the imagination of childhood memories and the genuineness of the hope in them.”
Strangers
In the novel an eight year old girl learns to lie in order to survive. It is not clear exactly where and when Strangers takes place. Somewhere in Europe, or the edges of Europe, but it could be somewhere in America or Asia. Perhaps in the 20th century, but it could be the first decade of the 21st century. As the subtitle says, the story takes place "thirty minutes before the war". The little girl maintains human values even in a world of terror and oppression. Terrible things happen to small children on a daily basis. Across the border is the free world where there are no soldiers in charge, where you can travel freely. The free world might be reached through a rat infested tunnel. The novel deals with events that have already taken place in the 21st century and turns concrete events into fiction. It elaborates the terrorist atrocity of Beslan in Russia.György C. Kálmán writes about Idegenek: “In the world of the novel – it is difficult to interpret Petőcz’s work any other way – everyone is an outsider. As they are in the outside world (suggests the novel). For in this world (in the novel and outside) the fact of being an outsider means to be vulnerable to a deadly threat (or is itself a threat), it means oppression, helplessness and determined opposition. Being an outsider is not just about a different use of language (or using a different language), clothes, skin colour or customs, but is embodied primarily in oppression and power – wherever the outsider may be. To be more precise, the defenceless and those in power are both outsiders for each other, and no matter who is in either position, for everyone else too.”
Prizes
Petőcz has received numerous literary prizes and awards for his work in literature, including the Lajos KassákLajos Kassák
Lajos Kassák was a Hungarian poet, novelist, painter, essayist, editor, theoretician of the avant-garde and occasional translator, was the father of many modernisms....
Literary Prize in 1987, which he received for his experimental poetry from the distinguished avantgarde literary journal Magyar Műhely (Hungarian Workshop).
Petőcz's poem "Európa metaforája" (Europe, metaphorically) won the Robert Graves
Robert Graves
Robert von Ranke Graves 24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985 was an English poet, translator and novelist. During his long life he produced more than 140 works...
Prize for best Hungarian poem of the year 1990.
In 1996 Petőcz was awarded the Attila József
Attila József
Attila József was one of the most important and well-known Hungarian poets of the 20th century.-Biography:The son of Áron József, a soap factory worker of Romanian origin from Bánát, and Hungarian peasant girl Borbála Pőcze, he was born in Ferencváros, a poor district of Budapest. He had two elder...
Prize by the cultural part of the Hungarian government as an official recognition of his work to date.
He is also a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
-Aschberg Laureate
Laureate
In English, the word laureate has come to signify eminence or association with literary or military glory. It is also used for winners of the Nobel Prize.-History:...
, having been granted a bursary
Bursary
A bursary is strictly an office for a bursar and his or her staff in a school or college.In modern English usage, the term has become synonymous with "bursary award", a monetary award made by an institution to an individual or a group to assist the development of their education.According to The...
in 2006 for the residency program at CAMAC (Centre d’Art. Marnay Art Centre) in Marnay-sur-Seine
Marnay-sur-Seine
Marnay-sur-Seine is a commune in the Aube department in north-central France.-Population:-References:*...
. to write a new novel.
In 2008 he received the Sándor Márai
Sándor Márai
Sándor Márai was a Hungarian writer and journalist.-Biography:...
Prize awarded by the Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture, for his novel Idegenek (Strangers).
Participations
András Petőcz has been to numerous writers’ residences and has been a guest at numerous international writers' meetings. He spent three months in the United States in 1998, where he took part in an international writers’ seminar within the framework of the International Writing Program (IWP) in Iowa CityIowa City, Iowa
Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, State of Iowa. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of about 67,862, making it the sixth-largest city in the state. Iowa City is the county seat of Johnson County and home to the University of Iowa...
. While there, he took part in events with about 25 writers from all over the world, including Israeli prose writer Igal Sarna and the brasilien writer Bernardo Carvalho
Bernardo Carvalho
Bernardo Carvalho is a Brazilian author and journalist. He was the editor of “Folhetim,” a collection of essays, and is a Paris and New York correspondent for Folha de São Paulo. His first two novels were edited in France....
.
From the IWP invitation, Petőcz contributed to several readings, including in New York, San Francisco and Portland, Maine. Similarly, he spent a month in 2001 at the Yaddo
Yaddo
Yaddo is an artists' community located on a 400 acre estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment."...
Art Center in Saratoga Springs, New York, where, among others, he met Rick Moody
Rick Moody
Rick Moody is an American novelist and short story writer best known for the 1994 novel The Ice Storm, a chronicle of the dissolution of two suburban Connecticut families over Thanksgiving weekend in 1973, which brought widespread acclaim, became a bestseller, and was made into a feature film of...
, the American prose writer.
In 2002 he moved to Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
for four years with his family and contributed to the work of the French journal and literary circle Hauteurs.
Starting in January 2007, he spent three months at CAMAC and introduced his new novel Idegenek (Strangers) in French. In August 2007, he was invited to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
by the Ledig-Rowohlt Foundation and spent three weeks at the Château de Lavigny International Writers' Residence.
In september 2011, he was invited to the International Literaturfestival Berlin, and also introduced his novel Idegenek (Strangers) in German.
External links
- András Petőcz's homepage
- András Petőcz's page on the HUNLIT literature database
- Andras Petőcz's poems in English - In praise of the sea
- Andras Petőcz's poems in English - in a row of sunlight
- Hungarian poetry selected by Andras Petőcz
- András Petőcz: A Change of Guard in Writing (about the Hungarian Poetry)
- 1998 IWP Author Interviews, András Petőcz (audio and video)
- András Petőcz in the CAMAC ART CENTER
- Iowa Audio interview with Andras Petőcz about writing prose versus poetry
- Iowa Audio interview with Andras Petőcz and others about the book and the technologie
- The homepage of "Palatinus" (Petőcz's publisher)
- The Hungarian Literature Online about the book of András Petöcz: In a row of sunlight
- It is good to be a stranger – interview with award winning Hungarian writer Andras Petöcz.
- András Petöcz's reading in English in Budapest
- András Petöcz: Strangers (Excerpt from the novel in The Hungarian Quarterly)