A member of the post-World War II generation of modernist writers, Sándor Csoóri is one of the most imposing figures in Hungarian literature of the second half of the twentieth century. A poet of international stature and an essayist of distinguished reputation, Csoóri played a significant role in shaping the social and political consciousness of Hungarian society during the decades of Communist rule and in the years following its overthrow. A salient feature of Csoóri's life and work is his dissatisfaction and restlessness both as a creative artist and as an individual within a cultural milieu that idealizes the impersonal. Throughout his career he has been an exemplary dissenter, resisting any restrictions on personal or artistic freedom. His poetry has undergone a transformation from a simple and graphic realism to a verse that unites elegiac and rhapsodic tones and provides...