SOURCE: "A Poet Taking Sides, " in The New Hungarian Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 91, Autumn, 1983, pp. 14-26.

In the following interview, Illyés reveals his philosophies and opinions regarding a poet's beliefs and poetic responsibilities to the nation.

[Domokos]: Gyula Illyés is 80 years old. Perhaps it would not be inopportune to talk with him on this day on the same topics as usual. Of poetry and ideas, on the position and opportunities for poetry today, its destiny and mission for man as the end of our century approaches. Perhaps it will not be inopportune to go directly into these topics and refer to something typical of what writers and artists have to face. I mean that more and more we hear that poets, literature and art are unable to answer the crucial historical, social and moral questions—the troubling questions of our time: on existence, on history, on society...