Българската народна поезия в преводите на Ласло Наги
Bulgarian Folk Poetry and the Translations of Laszlo Nagy

Summary/Abstract: Laszlo Nagy has published his translations of Bulgarian folk-songs into Hungarian in three volumes: Swords and Cithers (1953), A Falcon's Blood (1960) and Candles in Forests and Meadows (1976), welcomed with great interest and having a favourable effect on Hungarian lyrical poetry. An analysis of these translations shows the complexity of the task which faced the Hungarian poet, and the skill with which he dealt with it. There are essential differences in content and form between the Bulgarian and the Hungarian folk-songs. The Bulgarian folk-songs are more archaic, more epic, longer and give feeling greater weight than thought. The collective' character of folk poetry is manifested more markedly in them than in the Hungarian folk-songs. A modification and stylization on the basis of the laws by which Hungarian folk poetry has developed has been obtained in the translations of Laszlo Nagy. The new texts sound like Hungarian variants of Bulgarian songs and are the fruit of a conscious creative activity in the spirit of the inherited tradition of folk poetry. The translator has done his best not to change the original, but to intensify the essentials in it. Moreover, in the different collections he has placed traits of his own personal style to a different degree. On the other hand, images taken from his translations appear in his own poetry, a practical proof of the possibility of folklore being ’a gold mine for modern art.’

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