GARAY, JÄNOS (1812-1853), Hungarian poet and author, was born 10th October 1812, at Szegsz4rd, in the county of Tolna. From 1823 to 1828 he studied at Fünfkirchen, and subsequently, in 1829, at the university of Pesth. Here, having become acquainted with the works of the best German authors, he devoted himself to literary pursuits, and in 1834 brought out an heroic poem, in hexameters, under the title CscJdr. After this he issued in quick succession various historical dramas, among which the most successful were Arbocz, Orszägh Ilona, and Bâthori Erzsebet, — the first two published at Pesth in 1837, and the last in 1840. From 1833 to 1836 Garay was, moreover, associated with the literary journal Regelo (Taleteller), and in 1837 assisted in the editorship of the periodical Rajzo-latok (Sketches). At the beginning of 1838 he removed to Presburg, where be was for some time engaged in editing the political journal Hirrωk (Herald). He returned to Pesth in 1839, when he was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 1842 he was admitted into the Kisfaludy Society, of which he became second secretary. Garay enriched Hungarian literature with numerous lyrical poems, ballads, and tales. The first collection of his poems was published at Pesth in 1843; and his prose tales appeared in 1845, under the title of Tollrajzok (Sketches with the Pen). His historical ballads and legends, styled Arpddok Pesth, 1847 (2d ed. 1848), showed him to be a master in the art of ballad writing. Some of his lyrical poems also are excellent, as, for example, Balatoni Kαgylok (Shells from the Balaton Lake), Pesth, 1848. His legend Bosnydk Zsofia, Γesth, 1847, as also his poetical romance Fraηgeρan Kmstofηe (Christopher Frange· pan’s Wife), Pesth, 1846, gained ...the prize of the Kisfaludy Society. His last and most famous work was an historical poem in 12 cantos, with the title Szent Ldszlo (Saint Ladislaus), Eger, 1852 (2d ed. Pesth, 1853, 3d ed. 1863). In 1848 Garay was nominated professor of Hungarian language and literature to the university of Pesth, but in the following year he resigned that post. In 1850 he became enfeebled in health, and at length unfit for further literary efforts. After about four years’ illness, he died on the 5th November 1853, in great want, in the forty-second year of his age. A collective edition of his poems was published at Pesth the year after his death by F. Ney (2d ed. 1860), and several of his poems have been translated by Kertbeny.
See Gαrαy Jânos összes kôlteményei, 2d ed., Pesth, 1860; and Dichtungen von Johann Garay, 2d ed., Vienna, 1856.
[453 words — estimated reading time: 3 minutes]