Louis Barta

* Kistapolca, 1878. Oct. 20. – † Budapest, 1964. Oct. 18. / writer, journalist ; ; Husband of Mária Szucsich. Studied law in Pécs and humanities in Bp. From 1904 he worked as a journalist in Pécs, from 1907 in Košice. He was the editor of Felső-Magyarország, then the Kassai Hírlap and the Kassai Újság, and from 1910 he was a collaborator of the bourgeois radical Világ. He also published in Nyugat. ; – The greatest influence on his development as a writer was the collection of short stories by Zsigmond Móricz entitled Hét krajcár. His first play (Peasants) was performed in 1911, but due to its theme (land distribution) it was banned after the second performance, and its text was lost. His successful dramas were Szerelem, Zsuzsi, the first Hungarian proletarian drama, Tavaszi mámor, and Sötét ház (1918). His selected stories were published after 1945 under the title Magyar világ. ; – During the Soviet Republic, he took on a literary political role and was a member of the writers' directory. He was in prison from the autumn of 1919, then lived in exile in Berlin, Vienna, from 1934 in Po., from 1939 in London. In Vienna, he met Erwin Piscator and participated in the creation of the Berlin Proletarian Theater, where one of his plays was performed. ; – He had been in contact with Hungarian circles in Czechoslovakia since 1925, and was a colleague of the Pressburger Zeitung and the Magyar Újság. In 1928 he founded the Írók Kiadóválatálat (IKVA), and in 1929 the journal Új Szó. Later he attempted to start an anti-fascist journal (Világ, 1936), but the “cultural journal” only lasted four issues. He was the initiator of the Hungarian Intellectual Society. ; This society also proposed the plan for a congress of minority cultural organizations. The congress was held in 1936 under the name Tavaszi Parlament. ; – Among his works of fiction published in Czechoslovakia, we mention two of his novels, Múlt and A sötét ujj (1928), previously published in Vienna. The latter was published in Budapest in 1947 under the title Gyár. Zoltán Fábry described it in Korunk as “the first Hungarian peasant novel, which is also a socialist novel”. The continuation of the dark finger can be considered Gyárépítők, which he published in sequels in 1929 in Új Szó, but remained unfinished due to the suspension of the paper. ; – B. carried out significant journalistic activity in Czechoslovakia. He supported the Sarló movement and the organization of the anti-fascist intelligentsia of the People's Front. After 1945 he returned to Budapest, where he was awarded the Kossuth Prize in 1956. ; ; Works: Stories, Pécs 1901, Múlt, Bécs 1920, Öten a hóban, vál. elb., 1960, 1978, Shadow on the Bridge, articles, Bp. 1970. ; ; Literature: Endre Ady: B. L.'s book. The face of life, Ny 1917, Gyula Illyés: B. L.: The dark finger. = I. Gy.: With a compass 1., Bp. 1975, József Farkas: B. L. = J. F.: Writers, ideas, revolutions, Bp. 1979, Sándor Csanda: B. L.'s work in Czechoslovakia. = First generation, Po.–Bp. 1968, Zoltán Fábry: The spreader of the word. = ÖÍ 7., Po.–Bp. 1988, Zoltán Fónod: Message, Bp. 1993., Po., 2002. ;

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