Károly Molter (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈkaːroj ˈmoltɛr]; 2 December 1890 – 30 November 1981) was a Hungarian novelist, dramatist, literary critic, journalist and academic. He spent most of his life in the region of Transylvania, being successively a national of Austria-Hungary and Romania.
Biography
editBorn in Óverbász (Vrbas), Vojvodina region, Molter was from an ethnic German (Danube Swabian) family, but adopted Hungarian as his language.[1] He studied at the College of Kecskemét, and then at the University of Budapest Faculty of Philosophy in Letter (the Hungarian-German section).[1]
In 1913, he moved to Transylvania, settling down in Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mureş).[1] Between 1913 and 1945, he was a teacher in the Bolyai Gymnasium, a Reformed Church college in the city.[1] In the interwar period, after the union of Transylvania with Romania, he became a member of the Erdélyi Helikon group in Marosvécs (Brâncoveneşti), as well as sitting on the editorial staff of Zord Idő magazine.[1] In 1937, he published one of his most successful works, the novel Tibold Márton, which depicted a Swabian family in the process of adopting Hungarian culture, as well as the problems faced by ethnic minorities in their relation to the majority.[1]
After 1945, Molter was employed by the Bolyai faculty in Cluj, where he lectured in German language and literature.[1] Retiring in 1950, he moved back to Târgu Mureș, and died there 31 years later.[1]
Works
edit- F. m. Melánia R. T. (1929)
- Tibold Márton (1937)
- Bolond kisváros ("Foolish Little Town", 1942)
- Reformáció és magyar műveltség ("Reformation and the Hungarian Culture", 1944)
- Harci mosolyok ("Martial Smiles", 1956; short stories)
- Iparkodj kisfiam! ("Struggle, My Little Son!", 1964)
- Szellemi belháború ("The Intellectual Interwar", 1968)
- Komor korunk derűje ("The Brightness in Our Somber Times", 1971; anecdotes)
- Örökmozgó ("Perpetual Motion", 1974; plays)
- Buborékharc ("Bubble War", 1980; essays)
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h (in Romanian) Lucian Nastasă, Levente Salat (eds.), Maghiarii din România şi etica minoritară (1920-1940), p.236, at the Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center. Open Society Foundation Romania; retrieved September 2, 2007
Further reading
edit- László Ablonczy, Molter Károly XC., 1980
- György Beke, Molter Károly hagyatéka ("The Bequest of Károly Molter"), 1982
- Ildikó Marosi,
- Molter Károly, 1974
- Molter Károly levelezése ("Károly Molter's Correspondence"), 1995
- Pál Sőni, Molter Károly, 1981
- Lajos Szakolczay, Egy gazdag életút ("A Rich Lifetime"), 1970
- János Szász, A Molter példa érvényessége ("The Present-day Relevancy of the Molter Example"), 1986
- Áron Tóbiás, Molter Károlynál Marosvásárhelyen ("At Károly Molter's Home in Târgu Mureș"), 1989
- Tibor Tószegi, Molter Károly kilencvenéves ("Károly Molter at Age 90"), 1980