Alfred Reynolds (writer)

Alfred Reynolds (Reinhold Alfréd) (b. 13 December 1907, Budapest, d. 1993, London)^[1] was a writer on social and religious topics.

Biography

Reynolds was born into a wealthy family in Budapest, of a Jewish mother and a Roman Catholic father. He was educated at schools in Budapest and Vienna and at the University of Leipzig (1928–1931).^[1] In 1931 he founded the literary magazine Haladás (Progress), in which he published the poets Miklós Radnóti, István Vass and Mihály-András Rónai. The police forced him to close the magazine, but he started a left-leaning monthly, Névtelen Jegyző (Anonymous Chronicler), which published Reynolds's only collection of poetry, Első és utolsó lírai kötete (First and Last Book of Lyrics) (1932)^[2] before it too was closed down. Reynolds briefly joined the Communist Party of Hungary, leaving after Stalin's assassination of Sergey Kirov in 1934. He was imprisoned, subsequently placed under police observation and lost his job. In 1936 he escaped from Hungary and went to London where he lived for the rest of his life. He was in the British Army during the Second World War and joined the Intelligence Corps in 1944, participating in the programme of denazification.

In post-war London Reynolds was the main figure in a libertarian group called the Bridge Circle.^[3] Articles from its journal, the London Letter, are collected in Pilate's Question (1982), the title essay of which was the group's central focus of attention.^[4] Writers who early in their careers attended Bridge Circle meetings included Nicolas Walter, Bill Hopkins and Stuart Holroyd. Most notable was Colin Wilson, who has said he first wrote The Outsider as a riposte to Pilate's Question.

Reynolds' Jesus versus Christianity (1988) contrasts the teachings of Jesus with the doctrines of the Christian churches.^[5] A copy of his early volume of poetry was rediscovered in 1980 by the literary critic François Bréda in a bookshop in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. In 1993 Bréda and the poet Géza Szőcs invited Reynolds to Cluj-Napoca where, at the age of 85, he was well received in literary circles.^[6]

Works

• Reinhold Alfréd, Első és utolsó lírai kötete, Névtelen Jegyző kiadása, Budapest, 1932. [1] (Hungarian)
• Alfred Reynolds, The Hidden Years. Introduction by Colin Wilson. Cambridge International Publishers, London, 1981.
• Alfred Reynolds, Pilate's Question. Twenty years of articles, essays and sketches (1950–1970). Cambridge International Publishers, London, 1982.
• Alfred Reynolds, Jesus Versus Christianity. Open Gate Press, 393 p., 1988, 1993.

Bibliography

• Bréda Ferenc, "Jószerencsét", Fátum-úr...(Kicsoda ön, Reinhold Alfréd ?!...). In : Igazság. Fellegvár, 83. szám, Cluj-Napoca, 4 October 1980 [2] (Vö. Volt egyszer egy Fellegvár. Összeállította Martos Gábor. Erdélyi Híradó Könyv- és Lapkiadó, 1994, Cluj-Napoca, p. 78., p. 100.)
• Szőcs Géza, Reinholdról . In : Igazság. Fellegvár, 83. szám, Cluj-Napoca, 1980. okt. 4. (Vö. Volt egyszer egy Fellegvár. Összeállította Martos Gábor. Erdélyi Híradó Könyv- és Lapkiadó, 1994, Cluj-Napocavár, p. 78., p. 100.)
• Bréda Ferenc, Eső a Fellegváron avagy Reinhold Alfréd első útja Kolozsvárra. In : Helikon, Cluj-Napoca, 24/ 1993, p. 6.
• Bréda Ferenc, << Alfréd halála után >>... In : Szabadság, Cluj-Napoca, 17 June 1994, Campus-melléklet [3]
• Szőcs Géza, Kicsoda ön, Reinhold Alfréd ? In : Helikon, Cluj-Napoca, 24/ 1993, p. 6.
• Márton Ibolya, Reinhold-interjú, 1993, Cluj-Napoca. In : Echinox, Cluj-Napoca, 1993/ 9, p. 14.
• Richard Headicar, Reinhold Alfred, Colchester, Animata Omnia, 2004.
• Nicolas Walter, Anarchism in Print : Yesterday and Today, Government and Opposition, 5:4, pp. 523–540, 1970.

Online texts

• Reinhold Alfréd, Első és utolsó lírai kötete, Névtelen Jegyző kiadása, Budapest, 1932. [4] (Hungarian)

References

Externals links

• Alfred Reynolds - Reinhold Alfréd, Facebook (Hungarian) (French)
• [5] [Tristan Ranx, Nanochevik] (French)