In the footsteps of Endre Ady in Transcarpathia

The story of the Velyka Dobron episode

Abstract

The study examines Endre Ady’s connections to Transcarpathia, focusing on the history and background of his visit to Velyka Dobron. It may be regarded as a continuation of previous research presenting and discussing Sándor Petőfi’s connections to Transcarpathia. The starting point of the present paper is that, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Transcarpathia was not merely a geographical periphery, but also a cultural transitional space in which issues of national identity and modernity were concentrated in a distinctive way. The region’s press life, as well as its multiethnic environment, provided an intellectual background that corresponded to Ady’s socially critical and nation-interpreting aspirations.

The paper summarises the circumstances of Ady’s 1901 journey to Velyka Dobron, with particular attention to the family and friendly ties connecting the poet to the Csighy family, drawing on memoirs, correspondence, and press sources. Special attention is given to Erzsébet Gortvay’s 1959 research, which was the first to uncover the documents related to this episode, as well as to sources of disputed authenticity, such as the poem entitled “Üdvözlet” [Greetings] and the postcards. The study also presents the Transcarpathian aspects of Ady’s journalism and its indirect connections to the region: his writings criticising the Schönborn estate, his obituary responding to the death of Ede Egán, and his note concerning Berehove, all of which demonstrate his sensitivity and attention to the social problems of the region. Overall, the paper seeks to present all relevant data, sources, and writings that connect the poet to Transcarpathia.

The discussion of Ady’s second passage through the region in 1913, as well as the poem “Vendégség Bottyán vezérnél” [A Visit to General Bottyán], written at the Chop railway station, may be interpreted as an example of his interest in a national view of history. The study also offers an overview of Ady’s relationships with contemporaries of Transcarpathian origin, such as Endre Nagy and Ernő Szép, as well as of the local development of the Ady cult. In conclusion, the Velyka Dobron episode was not a marginal moment, but part of the intellectual orientation through which Ady turned towards Hungarian destinies on the periphery. The research highlights that this outstanding figure of twentieth-century Hungarian literature can be connected to Transcarpathia in many ways. These memories indicate not only the presence of a poet in a given space, but also the traces of the intellectual interest and sensitivity with which Ady turned towards the often-forgotten Hungarian destinies of the borderlands.