Boris Palotai

Boris Palotai
Born	Pollák Boris (1904-05-23)23 May 1904 Nagyvárad, Austria-Hungary (now Oradea, Romania)
Died	13 September 1983(1983-09-13) (aged 79) Budapest, Hungary
Resting place	Farkasréti Cemetery
Occupations	Writer poet
Children	Péter Bacsó
Parents	Palotai (Pollák) Armand Friedmann Margit
Relatives	Erzsi Palotai (sister)
Awards	József Attila Prize (1950, 1967) Medal of Merit of the Hungarian People's Republic (silver grade, 1949) Medal of Merit of the Hungarian People's Republic (gold grade, 1950) Order of Merit of Labour of Hungary (silver grade, 1960)
Writing career
Genre	Novel Poetry
Years active	1926–1983
Notable works	Tavaszi áradás Semetke úr éjszakája Kegyetlen ifjúság

Boris Palotai (née Boris Pollák; (1904-05-23)23 May 1904 in Nagyvárad, Austria-Hungary (now Oradea, Romania) – 13 September 1983(1983-09-13) (aged 79) in Budapest, Hungary) was a Hungarian writer and poet, and laureate of the József Attila Prize. She was the mother of the director Péter Bacsó, and sister of the artist and writer Erzsi Palotai.

Biography

Armand Palotai (Pollák) and Margit Friedmann (1880–1969) gave birth to Boris in a Jewish family. Her grandparents were restaurateurs and wine merchants. From 1919 to 1940, she lived in Košice where she completed her secondary education. Her first collection of poems, Tavaszi áradás, was published in 1926. In 1928, she gave birth to her son, Bacsó Péter. In 1932, she was the editor-in-chief of the youth magazine Én Lapom in Košice. She won the competitions of Atheneum and Nyugat. In 1946, residing in Budapest for six years, she became the editor of the magazine Asszonyok.

She spent much of her life in Košice before settling permanently in Budapest in 1939. From 1947 to 1953, she headed the literary section of Népszava. In the following years, her novels delved into deeper and more bitter worlds, describing the conflicts between the era and the individual.

Her literary career was marked by works that explored themes of social oppression and feminism. Boris Palotai was also very active in the left-wing literary and political circles in Budapest after World War II.

Many films were made based on her works.

Works

• Tavaszi áradás (poems, 1926)
• Valaminek a végén (poems, 1929)
• Az úszóbajnoknő (short novel, 1933)
• Péter, egy szegény kisdiák regénye (youth novel, 1934)
• Csillag és kenyér (poems, 1936)
• Isten ölében (novella, 1936)
• Julika (youth novel, 1937)
• Julika és az ötödik osztály (youth novel, 1939)
• Kassai diákok (youth novel, Hungária, Bp., 1940)
• A Mókus-uccai titok (youth novel, Hungária, Bp., 1941)
• Hátsó lépcső (novella, 1941)
• Semetke úr éjszakája (novel, 1942)
• Botrány a szállodában (novel, 1943)
• Kegyetlen ifjúság (novel, 1943)
• Anyák (novella, 1947)
• Julika tizenhat éves (novel, 1948)
• Tűzhely (novella, 1949)
• Puskásné (novel, 1950)
• Kakasszó (novella, 1951)
• Új emberek a Dunai Vasműnél (reportages, 1951)
• Sztálinvárosi gyerekek (novel, 1953)
• Ünnepi vacsora (novel, 1955)
• Varázsige (novella, 1955)
• Keserű mandula (novel, 1958)
• Válogatott tévedéseim (novella, 1959)
• Viharos mennyország (novel, 1960)
• Aprópénz (sketches, 1961)
• A madarak elhallgattak (novel, 1962)
• Vidám vasárnap (sketches, 1963)
• A férfi (short novel, novella, 1964)
• A színésznő és az oroszlán (novella, 1966)
• Örök harag (tales, novellas, 1966)
• Zöld dió (novel, 1968)
• Szerelmespár (novella, 1973)
• Hetedik év (short novel, novella, 1978)
• A másik (novella, 1981)
• Bejöhetsz hozzám panaszkodni (novella, 1982)
• Ki ismer engem? (novellas, chronicles, 1985)

Television

• The film A nő a barakkban (directed by Éva Zsurzs), inspired by the work of Boris Palotai, received the Nymphe d'or award at the Monte Carlo Television Festival.

References

Sources

• Ki kicsoda a magyar irodalomban? Tárogató Könyvek ISBN 963-8607-10-6
• Ki kicsoda a magyar irodalomban? Könyvkuckó kiadó, Budapest, 1999 ISBN 9-638157-91-7
• Magyar életrajzi lexikon IV: 1978–1991 (A–Z). Főszerk. Kenyeres Ágnes. Budapest: Akadémiai. 1994. ISBN 963-05-6422-X