The Polish Book Institute

In Hungary, the translation of Esej o duszy polskiej (“An Essay on the Polish Soul”) has been published. The work was translated by Lajos Pálfalvi. The publication of Ryszard Legutko's work was supported by the Book Institute as part of the ©POLAND Translation Programme.

Esszé a lengyel lélekről, which is the title of the Hungarian edition of the book, has been recently published by Rézbong publishing house in Göd.

An Essay on the Polish Soul is a book about the Polish post-war intellectual tradition, its faces and evolution in the times of the Polish People's Republic, as well as the influences that shaped it after 1989. The author, one of the most popular Polish intellectuals, analyses it comprehensively, pointing out its weaknesses: imitativeness and futility, but also drawing attention to those aspects of the heritage of Polish thought which may have an invigorating effect on contemporary public debate.

The translator of the book, Lajos Pálfalvi, is a Hungarian literary historian, critic, one of the most outstanding translators of Polish literature, a winner of the prestigious Transatlantyk Award granted by the Book Institute. Thanks to his work as a translator since the mid-1980s, the most important and current works of Polish literature and the broadly understood humanities have been systematically published in Hungary.

Pálfalvi has translated into Hungarian works by, among others, Wł. St. Reymont, S. Mrożek, A. Szczypiorski, Cz. Miłosz, W. Gombrowicz, P. Szewc, St. Vincenz, A. Paczkowski, G. Herling-Grudziński, J. Stempowski, M. Gretkowska, A. Libera, K. Brandys, H. Grynberg, W. Kowalewski, A. Stasiuk, A. Bart, I. Fink, R. Legutko, O. Tokarczuk, A. Michnik, M. Janion, J. Mackiewicz, K. Varga, A. Walicki, A. Szczeklik, B. Wojdowski, A. Żbikowski, L. Kołakowski, P. Paziński, A. Kołakowska, P. Lisicki, L. Amejko.

Last year, the essay by Ryszard Legutko was presented to Romanian readers by another outstanding translator, Constantin Geambaşu.