Lőrinc Szabó de Gáborján was a Hungarian poet and literary translator.
Background
He was born in Miskolc as the son of an engine driver, Lőrinc Szabó senior, and Ilona Panyiczky. He didn"t finish his studies. Instead he began to work for the literary periodical Az Est in 1921, shortly after he married Klára Mikes, the daughter of Lajos Mikes.
Education
He attended school in Balassagyarmat and Debrecen. He studied at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest where he befriended Mihály Babits.
Career
The family moved to Balassagyarmat when he was 3 years old. He worked there until 1944. His first published poems appeared in the 1920s in the Nyugat ("The West").
His first book of poetry was published in 1922 under the title Föld, erdő, Isten ("Earth, Forest, God") and received considerable success.
He fought in World World War II, met Gyula Gömbös and at a literary congress at Lillafüred he emphasized the beauty of war poetry. In 1942 Lőrinc Szabó joined the "Europäische Schriftstellervereinigung" (ie European Writers" League) which had been founded by Joseph Goebbels.
Szabó became the speaker of Hungarian section of the European Writers" League after József Nyírő and published articles in the organisation"s magazine "Europäische Literatur" (ie European Literature). This led to him being considered right-wing, and because of this, after the war he was left out of cultural life and could publish only translations, not his own works.
He died of a heart attack.