Szobotka Tibor (1913–1982)

Tibor Szobotka was born in Budapest, Hungary, the son of Jozefa (Grün) and Henrik Szobotka. He began writing short stories at age 18. From 1930 to 1935, he studied English-German art history at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, where he earned a doctorate in humanities and a secondary school teaching certificate. After graduation, he traveled to England. On returning home, he took a job as the English-German correspondent of the Hungaria-Jacquard factory. Szobotka was drafted into the army in World War II. While he was away, his wife Ily Márkus-Szoyer died following childbirth, along with the baby, during the Siege of Budapest in January 1945. After the war ended, Szobotka joined the staff of Magyar Rádió (Hungarian State Radio). There he worked as a reviewer, then as literary editor and as chief program secretary. In 1950, he was dismissed from his post and silenced by the Communist regime under Stalinist era censorship. His second wife Magda Szabó, whom he had married in 1948, was also banned from publishing. Szobotka found work as a proofreader and primary school teacher. During these years, he wrote his novel In Exile, which was only published after his death. In 1954, he joined the faculty of Eötvös Loránd University, becoming an assistant professor of World Literature and then an associate professor in 1966. He translated the works of English-language writers into Hungarian, and is best-known for his original translation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. Other important writers he introduced to the Hungarian public included Lewis Carroll, Sinclair Lewis, John Galsworthy, George Eliot, and James Joyce. His own fiction and nonfiction included Hellenism in the Poetry of Shelley and Keats (1936), The Dependable Gentleman (1959), Audience and Literature (1964), The History of English Literature (1972), Guests of Züzü (1973), The Conspirators (1978), and Brides, Grooms (1980). He served as a vice-presidents of the PEN Club, and was a regular contributor to magazines such as Élét és Irodalom and Kortárs. Magda Szabó completed his unfinished autobiography, Megmaradt Szobotkának, with the help of his diaries and draft manuscript. It was published posthumously in 1983.