SOURCE: “On Różewicz,” in Acta Litteraria, Vol. 30, Nos. 1–2, 1988, pp. 152–60.

In the following essay, Fodor discusses his translation of Różewicz's poetry into Hungarian and Różewicz's relationship to Hungarian poetry.

Tadeusz Różewicz has been known in Hungary since the 1960s. Yet, even the postscript to his first volume published in this country sets out the way in which his plays differ from those of Mrożek, noting that Różevicz is really a poet. Accordingly, his theatre, too, reveals the lyricist's universe, a continuity of existence of the lyrical self on and off stage. Thus we did have some knowledge of Różevicz being one of the best-known representatives all over Europe of the new generation of Polish literature, yet, his introduction to a Hungarian audience has been slow in coming.

During a trip to Britain in 1970, I already discovered in a bookshop a collection of...