Book series presenting the works of Aladár Kuncz is published jointly by NSZL and Kriterion

This year marks 100 years past since András Kuncz, the renowned writer, editor, critic and translator, a committed admirer of French culture had been interned, together with the rest of Hungarians staying in France, after the outbreak of World War I but before Austria-Hungary and France entered in a state of war. Although at the outbreak of the “Great War” Kuncz was spending his umpteenth holidays in France, as the citizen of an enemy belligerent state, he became a persona non grata from one moment to the other, together with several of his companions.

Until this centenary, there would have been enough time and occasion to collect and publish the complete oeuvre of the writer of Black Monastery, but it has not happened so far. Now we make an attempt to fill in this gap, together with our friends, researchers of Kuncz’s oeuvre, within the framework of cooperation between the scholarly workshop of National Széchényi Library, keeping part of the Kuncz bequest, and Cluj-Napoca-based Kriterion Publishing House, dedicated to exploring Hungarian literary heritage in Rumania. The upcoming life work series of Aladár Kuncz (his translations not included) is planned to be published until 2018, which is another centenary, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hungarian minority literature in Transylvania. The majority of the works in the series require research work that has never been done. After World War II, Kuncz’s main work, the Black Monastery was repeatedly published in abridged versions, and the exploration of the book’s background and the system of internment has not been made ever since. Also, no attempt has been made to collect Kuncz’s small epics. Some of his literary studies and critiques were published but several of his highly important related texts were hidden in journals and magazines, practically unavailable for readers. Only a few of his articles were published in volumes of selected studies and articles. His book written about Ferenc Toldy was first published in 1907, and ours will be the 2nd edition. Kuncz’s monograph, Development of the Theory and Methodology of the History of Hungarian Literature since Ferenc Toldy, still in manuscript, will be published for the first time.

The seven volumes of the series will hopefully contain all the available works written by Aladár Kuncz including even his correspondence, which was published only once, more than three decades ago. Every volume comes complete with an accompanying study and an apparatus of critical notes. The last one in the series will include a bibliography comprising data related to articles, studies, essays and portraits about Kuncz.

Items of the series, according to scheduled dates of publication:

1. Fekete kolostor. Feljegyzések a francia internáltságból. (Black Monastery. Notes from French Internment.) Accompanying study written by, notes compiled and text edited by Éva Jeney. Kriterion–OSZK (NSZL), Cluj-Napoca–Budapest, 2014.
2. Egy márványdarab. (A Piece of Marble.) (Short stories, sketches, feuilletons, notes and drama). Compiled and edited by Tamás Gusztáv Filep and Ágnes Varga. Kriterion–OSZK (NSZL), Cluj-Napoca –Budapest, 2015.
3. Felleg a város felett. Regény. (Cloud over the City. Novel.) Accompanying study is written by, notes are compiled and text is edited by Andrea Juhász. Kriterion–OSZK, Cluj-Napoca–Budapest. Will be published in 2015.
4. Toldy Ferenc. A magyar irodalomtörténet elméletének és módszerének fejlődése Toldy Ferenc óta. (Ferenc Toldy. Development of the Theory and Methodology of the History of Hungarian Literature since Ferenc Toldy.) (Monographs.) Accompanying study is written by, notes are compiled and text is edited by László Boka and Zsuzsanna Rózsafalvi. Scheduled publication: 2016.
5. Tanulmányok, kritikák I. (Studies and Critiques. Vol. 1) Volume is compiled by, accompanying study is written, notes are compiled and text is edited by Andrea Juhász. Scheduled publication: 2017.
6. Tanulmányok, kritikák II. (Studies and Critiques. Vol. 2) Volume is compiled by, accompanying study is written, notes are compiled and text is edited by László Szász. Scheduled publication: 2017.
7. Kuncz Aladár levelezése. (Correspondence of Aladár Kuncz.) Scheduled publication: 2018.
8. Tanulmányok, esszék Kuncz Aladárról. (Studies and Essays on Aladár Kuncz.) Scheduled publication: 2018.