Kalman Balla

* Bratislava, 16 Feb. 1954. / poet, editor, translator ; ; Graduated from Po. (1973), obtained a Hungarian-English teaching certificate from the ELTE BTK in Bratislava (1978). In 1978–1987 he was the editor of Madách Könyv- és Lapkiadó, in 1987–1989 he was an editor of ISZ, from December 1989 he was a collaborator of Nap, then its editor-in-chief (1990–1992) and the director of Nap Kiadó. – Since the early seventies he has been publishing poetry, literary criticism, and reviews (ISZ, ÚSZ, Hét). He published his poetry collections under the titles Betűvetés (1978) and Élet-írásjelek (1988). For the latter, he received the Madách Prize. His poems are characterized by sensuality and the intention of abstraction. In his first volume, we see the uncertain signs of his struggle for poetry, and his lyrical ideal was mainly influenced by Dezső Tandori, János Pilinszky and Vladimír Holan. In his second volume, the linguistic and poetic basis of his poetry was strengthened, and his poems became more nuanced and meaningful in terms of thought. Zsigmond Zalabai writes about the volume: “He is no longer satisfied with contesting certain concepts of aesthetic and literary communication, but passionately seeks the answer to the question of how the poetic message can be transformed into a useful thought, idea, morality in the reader: “ethical energy.” In this period, history gives him the questions to answer, but the answers modestly approach the level of demanding poetic and philosophical messages. – With some discussion articles, he brought about a useful “deep-water” flow in the stagnant waters of contemporary literary life. As a translator, he interpreted the poems of V. Holan, R. Fabry, V. Kondrót, and the writings of S. Šmatlák, J. Fuèík, J. Števèek and V. Havel. He was the compiler of volumes 3–4 of the Új Mindenes Gyűjtemény, the anthologies Próbaút (1986) and Tűzpalota (1990, with Katalin Karsay). ; – In 1993 he left for Mo., lives in Budapest, severed his connection with our literary life, we have no information about his literary activity. ; ; Works: What's new in literary research. “Transgressive analyses”, academic, ISZ 1979/5, Do we have poetry? Discussion starter regarding the Jelenlét anthology, academic, Hét 1979/37, The Book of Hopes. Grendel Lajos: Galeri, academic, ISZ 1983/8. ; ; Literature: Imre Varga: B. K. verseseihez, rec., ISZ 1974/4, Zsigmond Zalabai: B. K. = Z. Zs.: Verse History, 1995, László Tóth: The poet of the “careful deep”, rec., Könyvvilág 1989. ;

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