A gárda dala: A Dalok könyve 185. versének magyar műfordításairól
The Song of the Guard: About the Hungarian translations of poem 185 of the Book of Songs

Summary/Abstract: Some of the 305 poems in the Book of Songs (Shi jing 詩經), the first and one of the most significant and influential collections of classical Chinese lyrics, have received special attention among Hungarian poets and translators. The author collected no less than ten translations of poem 185 (Qifu 祈父) – most of them hidden or now forgotten. This poem is probably one of the classical Chinese poems that have most often been translated into Hungarian. Eight translations were published in the two and a half decades between 1924 and 1949. Some are linked to very famous authors: Lajos Kassák (1887–1967) himself was sentenced to two months in prison for publishing one of the translations. The study examines the reason for the poem’s contemporary popularity and its role in the Hungarian language lyrical propaganda of anti-war world poetry.

• Details
• Contents