Elek Benedek

Portrait by Karvaly Mór

Elek Benedek (or in Hungarian Benedek Elek) (30 September 1859 – 17 August 1929) was a Hungarian journalist and writer, more widely known as "the great folk-tale teller" of Hungarian fairy tales.

Biography

Born in Kisbacon, Transylvania (today Băţanii Mici, Romania), he studied in Székelyudvarhely (Romanian: Odorheiu Secuiesc) and later in Budapest. He went as a student with Job Sebesi to collect folklore elements. The result was a collection of Transylvanian tales, which was met with so much positive critique, that the young Elek Benedek cut short his studies. He worked at first as a journalist for Budapest Hírlap ("Budapest Newspaper") and for other newspapers.

He was a member of Parliament between 1887 and 1892. In his speeches he engaged in youth literature, folk poetry, folk language and public education.

In 1889 he founded, together with Lajos Pósa, the first Hungarian literary magazine for young people, Az Én Újságom ("My Magazine"). He was the editor of Jó Pajtás ("Good Fellow") with Zsigmond Sebők. He also edited a series of books for youth, called Kis Könyvtár ("Small Library"); this later appeared as Benedek Elek Kis Könyvtára ("Small Library of Benedek Elek"). In 1900 he joined the Kisfaludy Group, a group of famous Hungarian writers and poets. He also wrote poems, dramas, novels and historical fiction books, but the most famous were his fairy tales.

In 1885 the Székely Tündérország ("Szekler Fairy-land"), which contains the first original fairy tales from tha authors, appeared. Six years later, in 1891, the Székely mesemondó ("Szekler Storyteller") appeared. Benedek's biggest challenge was the Magyar mese- és mondavilág (World of Hungarian Tales and Legends), which appeared in 5 volumes between 1894 and 1896. This book was dedicated to the Hungarian Millennia.

Next to the original stories he made translations, including many tales from Grimm's Fairy Tales and Arabian Nights to Hungarian.

After the Treaty of Trianon (which transferred sovereignty over Transylvania to Romania), he went back to his native village, Kisbacon, where he edited the youth magazine Cimbora ("Friend") until he died.

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elek Benedek.

• West Hungarian University homepage
• Homepage of Bardócz Orsolya, the great-granddaughter of the author

External links

• Works by Elek Benedek at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Elek Benedek at Internet Archive
• Works by Elek Benedek at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Hungarian literature Early sources Funeral Sermon and Prayer Old Hungarian Lamentations of Mary Gesta Hungarorum Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum Chronicon Pictum Sándor Petőfi 15th – 17th century Bálint Balassi Péter Bornemisza Albert Gergei István Gyöngyösi Gáspár Heltai János Sylvester Sebestyén Tinódi Lantos Janus Pannonius Péter Pázmány János Rimay Miklós Zrínyi 18th – 19th century Zoltán Ambrus János Arany József Bajza János Batsányi Elek Benedek Dániel Berzsenyi Miklós Bethlen Sándor Bródy Gergely Csiky Mihály Csokonai Vitéz József Eötvös Mihály Fazekas János Garay Géza Gárdonyi Ignotus Mór Jókai József Kármán József Katona Ferenc Kazinczy Zsigmond Kemény Károly Kisfaludy Sándor Kisfaludy Ferenc Kölcsey Imre Madách Kelemen Mikes Kálmán Mikszáth Sándor Petőfi István Széchenyi Ede Szigligeti Mihály Tompa János Vajda Mihály Vörösmarty 20th century Endre Ady Lajos Áprily Mihály Babits Béla Balázs Miklós Bánffy Géza Csáth Tibor Déry György Faludy István Fekete Miksa Fenyő Jolán Földes Milán Füst Andor Endre Gelléri Géza Gyóni Béla Hamvas Jenő Heltai Ferenc Herczeg Gyula Illyés Éva Janikovszky Attila József Gyula Juhász Margit Kaffka László Kálnoky Ferenc Karinthy Frigyes Karinthy Lajos Kassák Géza Képes János Kodolányi Károly Kós Dezső Kosztolányi Gyula Krúdy Ervin Lázár Menyhért Lengyel Iván Mándy Sándor Márai Ferenc Molnár Ferenc Móra Zsigmond Móricz Gáspár Nagy Lajos Nagy László Nagy Ágnes Nemes Nagy László Németh József Nyírő Géza Ottlik István Örkény Géza Páskándi János Pilinszky Miklós Radnóti Jenő Rejtő Sándor Reményik Sándor Sík István Sinka András Sütő Dezső Szabó Lőrinc Szabó Magda Szabó Sándor Szathmári Miklós Szentkuthy Mária Szepes Antal Szerb Domokos Szilágyi Áron Tamási Józsi Jenő Tersánszky Árpád Tóth István Tömörkény Albert Wass Sándor Weöres Lajos Zilahy Péter Zsoldos Contemporary Tamás Cseh Sándor Csoóri István Csukás György Dragomán Péter Esterházy Ágnes Gergely Márton Gerlóczy Gábor Görgey Anna Jókai Ferenc Juhász Sándor Kányádi Márton Karinthy Ákos Kertész Imre Kertész György Konrád László Krasznahorkai Endre Kukorelly Péter Lengyel László L. Lőrincz Béla Markó György Moldova Péter Müller Péter Nádas Ádám Nádasdy Gábor Nógrádi Imre Oravecz Zsolt Őz Lajos Parti Nagy Zsuzsa Rácz Zsuzsa Rakovszky András Réz Pál Salamon Richárd Salinger György Spiró Károly Szakonyi Dezső Tandori Miklós Vámos Category:Hungarian writers