Background
He was born at Tet, near Raab, on the 6th of February1788. His birth cost his mother her life and himself his father's undying hatred.
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He was born at Tet, near Raab, on the 6th of February1788. His birth cost his mother her life and himself his father's undying hatred.
In 1812 he studied painting at the Vienna academy and supported himself precariously by his brush and pencil, till the theatre at Vienna proved a still stronger attraction. In 1815 he went to Italy to study art more thoroughly.
He entered the army as a cadet in 1804; saw active service in Italy, Servia and Bavaria (1805 - 1809), especially distinguishing himself at the battle of Leoben (May 25 and returned to his quarters at Pest with the rank of first lieutenant.
It was during the war that he composed his first poems, e. g. the tragedy Gyilkos ("The Murder, " 1808), and numerous martial songs for the encouragement of his comrades.
In 1812 he wrote the tragedy Kldra Zdch. But he was back again within six months, and for the next three years flitted from place to place, living on the charity of his friends, lodging in hovels and dashing off scores of daubs which rarely found a market.
Subsequent plays, The Voivode Stiber and The Petitioners (the first original Magyar dramas), were equally successful. Kisfaludy's fame began to spread. He had found his true vocation as the creator of the Hungarian drama. In May 1820 he wrote three new plays for the dramatic society (he could always turn out a five-act drama in four days) which still further increased his reputation. From 1820 onwards, under the influence of the great critic Kazinczy, he learnt to polish and refine his style, while his friend and adviser Gyorgy Gaal (who translated some of his dramas for the Vienna stage) introduced him to the works of Shakespeare and Goethe.
By this time Kisfaludy had evolved a literary theory of his own which inclined towards romanticism; and in collaboration with his elder brother Alexander he founded the periodical Aurora (1822), which he edited to the day of his death. The Aurora was a notable phenomenon in Magyar literature. It attracted towards it many of the rising young authors of the day (including Vorosmarty, Bajza and Czuczor) and speedily became the oracle of the romanticists. The publication of Aurora so engrossed his time that practically he abandoned the stage. But he contributed to Aurora ballads, epigrams, short epic pieces, and, best of all, his comic stories.
When the folk-tale became popular in Europe, Kisfaludy set to work upon folk-tales also and produced (1828) some of the masterpieces of that genre. He died on the 216t of November 1830. Six years later the great literary society of Hungary, the Kisfaludy Society, was founded to commemorate his genius. Apart from his own works it is the supreme merit of Kisfaludy to have revived and nationalized the Magyar literature, giving it a range and scope undreamed of before his time.
The first edition of Kisfaludy's works, in 10 volumes, appeared at Buda in 1831, shortly after his death, but the 7th edition (Budapest 1893) is the best and fullest. See Ferenc Toldy, Lives of the Magyar Poets (Hung. ) (Budapest, 1870); Zsolt Beothy, The Father of Hungarian Comedy (Budapest, 1882); Tamas Szana, The Two Kisfaludys (Hung. ) (Budapest, 1876). Kisfaludy's struggles and adventures are also most vividly described in Jokai's novel, Eppur si muove (Hung. )
Kisfaludy's material position had now greatly improved even after the success of his works, but he could not shake off his old recklessness and generosity, and he was never able to pay a tithe of his debts.
