Poetry
Tövisek és virágok
Not translated into English
Ferenc Kazinczy · 1811
Synopsis
Forty-three short pieces, whose title promises thorns and flowers: some take to task the Hungarian writers attached to a taste judged provincial and outdated, others salute those who train themselves on foreign masterpieces. A few pieces touch on language itself, on new words and grammar; most deal with taste and style. The collection opens with a motto from Goethe to the effect that works of the mind and of art are not made for the crowd.
Context
The collection came out in 1811 at Sárospatak, from the printer András Nádaskay, in a slim volume printed in few copies; the title page bears Széphalom, the author's home. It appears the same year as the “Poetic Epistle to my friend Mihály Vitkovics”, and it is with these two texts that Kazinczy opens the fight for the renewal of the language. The riposte comes in 1813 with the “Mondolat”, a pamphlet published at Veszprém by Gedeon Somogyi, and the quarrel continues until 1819.
Who it is for
Very short pieces, whose wit depends on stylistic quarrels two centuries old; no French or English translation has been located.
Prizes and reception
The collection that, together with the epistle to Vitkovics, launched the war between the innovators and the conservatives of the Hungarian language.
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