Gyorgy Faludy, the Hungarian-Canadian poet, pictured, has died. Eyewear was based in Budapest for some time, and recalls hearing the poet read.
This from the CBC:
HUNGARIAN-CANADIAN POET FALUDY DIES
Gyorgy Faludy, the Hungarian poet who was an icon of the Nazi and Communist resistance in his native country, has died at the age of 96.
The poet, who became a Canadian citizen, passed away in his Budapest home on Friday, national news agency MTI reported on Saturday."Gyorgy Faludy was considered a master, the last member of Hungary's2 0th-century generation of poets to which all later generations compared and [will] compare themselves," Hungarian Prime MinisterFerenc Gyurcsany said. Known as George Faludy in the West, the poet fled his native country twice. Faludy, who was Jewish, left in 1938 during the rise of Nazism. He returned after the war and then fled a second time in 1956 as Soviet tanks crushed an anti-Communist uprising.
Before returning to Hungary in 1989, Faludy roamed the world, living inFrance, Algeria, the United Kingdom, Italy and then Toronto, where he resided for 20 years. The city was already planning to inaugurate a park bearing his name near his former home on Oct. 3.
Faludy may best be known for his adaptation of François Villon ballads from the medieval period, published just before the rise of fascism inthe late 1930s, and his autobiographical novel My Happy Days in Hell, published in 1962, which related his escape from fascist Hungary and his return and imprisonment during communist rule.I n the book, he details his life after being sent by the country's new Communist government to a concentration camp in 1949 where he spent three years. Many people were tortured or killed at the camp, which had been a state secret until 1,300 prisoners were released in 1953, following the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
Faludy organized literature courses to keep up the spirits of the prisoners, including memorizing literary works to maintain their mental capabilities. He also recounts writing a poem in blood on toilet paper with a straw pulled from a broom.
After fleeing for the second time, Faludy edited a literary journal inLondon, taught at Columbia University in New York and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Toronto. Faludy never stopped writing poetry, publishing a new collection of his works in 2002. His rebellious nature was never reined in. On the heels of his new collection, Faludy allowed the Hungarian edition of Penthouse magazine to photograph him and his new wife, poet Fanny Kovacs, wearing little more than their wedding rings for a featur earticle. More than 70,000 copies of the magazine were scooped up in a few days. He married Kovacs, then only 28 years old, after living for some time with a male lover. His son Andrew, from his marriage with second wife Zsuzsa, lives inBritain. Zsuzsa died in 1963. Faludy will be buried Sept. 9 in Budapest's Fiumei Uti cemetery.
Copyright (C) 2006 CBC. All rights reserved.
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