Nestórrá utazni, Télemachosszá emlékezni

Abstract

This study maps the poetry of Gábor Devecseri (who was the most important Hungarian translator of Homer) regarding to the periodization of the oeuvre and focusing on the notion of time. The poetic oeuvre of Devecseri can be divided into three periods: the first period begins from the 1930’s and lasts to the collection titled Letter from the Mount, published after World War II; the second falls on the period of ”schematism”, which starts from the collection The light is spreading (celebrating the birthday of Stalin) to 1956; the third, after a long silence, begins from 1961 (with the essay „Homeric Journey”) and lasts to the death of the author. The meeting with the Greek land and culture brought some especially new elements into the poetry of Devecseri. The relation between the author and the Ancient culture is determined by the translation of Homer and by the personal encounter with modern Greek life too. The journey in space broadens not only towards the cultural dimensions of the time, but comprehends the personal phases of the individual life time.