Friends (poetry collection) explained

Friends
Author:András Gerevich
Title Orig:Barátok
Country:Slovakia
Language:Hungarian
Genre:Poetry
Publisher:Kalligram Könyvkiadó
Release Date:2009
Media Type:Print
Pages:81
Isbn:8-081-01170-6
Oclc:1086349815
Preceded By:Men (2005)[1]
Followed By:Sixteen Sunset (2014)[2]

Friends (Hungarian: '''Barátok'''; in Hungarian pronounced as /ˈbɒraːtok/) is the third poetry collection by András Gerevich. It was first published in 2009 by Kalligram Könyvkiadó.[3]

The poems in the book are arranged into four cycles and explore three themes: childhood traumas, homosexual relationships, and life abroad.[4]

Reception

Péter Demény of Élet és Irodalom called the collection "nice and beautiful". He further wrote that "It's beautiful, because desire, passion and suffering (at least since Denis de Rougemont, we know that these two go together), loneliness, soul anguish, and guilt can be heard in good poems."[5] Csaba Báthori, writing for Magyar Narancs, praised the overall volume, writing, "András Gerevich's poetry is able to dissolve it into a poetic grayscale, and in the third third of the poem, he snappily summarizes what he depicted before. The drawing of hot primary sensations is mostly perceptive and usually leads to important, meaningful statements (or begins with such a memorable statement)." But he criticised some poems by writing, "here and there the poems cannot yet master what the body has experienced into a work of art; they cannot transmit the poet's emotions to the reader; they cannot turn the direct impressions of soulless flesh into a spiritual-poetic figure"[6] Litera's György Vári wrote, "Despite the occasional clumsiness of some of the poems in the collection, Barátok is one of the most important volumes of poetry in recent years."[7]

Imre Payer of PRAE, praised "intentional free verse form" and "metaphor-less verse speech" in the volume by writing, "The emphasis on visuality and new sensibility is also proven by the fact that András Gerevich is especially good at composition. He knows and has mastered classical topical and acoustic tech very well"[8] Endre Balogh, the owner of PRAE later described it as “one of the most important Hungarian books of poetry in the year 2009.“[9]

Homoerotic themes in the volume were also praised. Viktória Radics of Revizor, wrote, “András Gerevich, who until now attracted attention with his openness about sex between men in poetry, has now crossed the line of breaking the taboo. These current poems are shockingly good not because they write about the strange erotic-sexual experiences and bizarreness of gay relationships, but because they touch on the height and depth of love, sometimes even capture it.“[10] Könyves Magazine wrote, “Barátok goes beyond the poetics of chest hair in the poems the homosexual theme is objectified in such a way that the experience material of the lyrical self holds exciting possibilities even for the reader who is not familiar with the homosexual experience.“[11]

In 2023, Zsigmond Kassai in his article Queer Hungarian Literature: On a Path Out of Isolation for Hungarian Literature Online, wrote, "Barátok, his third volume, achieves another important innovation in Gerevich’s poetic world. It highlights the consequences of biological infertility on a gay man’s life, a question which comes to be a defining element of the gay male perspective in Gerevich’s own poetry and in gay poetry more broadly. Furthermore, this aspect is growing more and more miserable nowadays as it is now illegal in Hungary for LGBTQ persons to adopt."

Notes and References

  1. Borbély . Szilárd . Szilárd Borbély . 19 August 2005 . Férfiakról - mindenkinek . About men - for everyone . . Budapest . 3 August 2023 . hu . 49 . 33 . 0424-8848 . 3 August 2023 . Gerevich András második kötete a férfiak közötti szerelemről szól úgy, hogy az önéletrajzi beszéd kódját is elrejti a kötet darabjaiban . András Gerevich's second volume is about love between men in such a way that it also hides the code of autobiographical speech in the pieces of the volume. . https://web.archive.org/web/20230803022900/https://www.es.hu/cikk/2005-08-21/borbely-szilard/ferfiakrol-mindenkinek.html . live .
  2. Web site: Inzsöl. Kata. A világ űr: Gerevich András: Tizenhat naplemente. The world is space: András Gerevich: Sixteen sunsets. Jelenkor. hu. 4 May 2015. 15 August 2023. 7 April 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190407151527/http://www.jelenkor.net/visszhang/430/a-vilag-ur. live.
  3. Web site: Gerevich András: Barátok. András Gerevich: Friends. Litera – az irodalmi portál. 19 August 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20230908144314/https://litera.hu/irodalom/elso-kozles/gerevich-andras-baratok.html. 8 September 2023. hu.
  4. Web site: Ildikó. Vincze. Csak a hiány, amit talál – Vincze Ildikó kritikája Gerevich András Barátok (Kalligram, 2009.) című verseskötetéről. Only the lack that you find - Ildikó Vincze's review of András Gerevich's book of poems entitled Friends (Kalligram, 2009). 18 January 2010. Irodalmi Jelen. hu. 5 November 2023. 5 November 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231105213355/https://www.irodalmijelen.hu/05242013-1003/csak-hiany-amit-talal-vincze-ildiko-kritikaja-gerevich-andras-baratok-kalligram-2009. live.
  5. Demény . Péter . 5 June 2009 . Kapu alatt a füstben . Under the gate in the smoke . hu . . 53 . 23 . Budapest . 8 September 2023 . 8 September 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230908162200/https://www.es.hu/cikk/2009-06-10/demeny-peter/kapu-alatt-a-fustben.html . live .
  6. Báthori . Csaba . 30 July 2009 . Könyv - A barátság koordinátái - Gerevich András: Barátok . Book - The coordinates of friendship - András Gerevich: Friends . hu . . 21 . 31 . Budapest . 8 September 2023 . 8 September 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230908165553/https://magyarnarancs.hu/zene2/konyv_-_a_baratsag_koordinatai_-_gerevich_andras_baratok-71887#google_vignette . live .
  7. Web site: Vári. György. Pergő homokórák. Snare hourglasses. hu. Litera – az irodalmi portál. 12 August 2009. 7 November 2023. 9 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160409164805/http://www.litera.hu/hirek/pergo-homokorak. live.
  8. Web site: A HOMOSZEXUALITÁS SZENZIBILIS POÉTIKÁJA . THE SENSITIVE POETICS OF HOMOSEXUALITY . Payer . Imre . 10 August 2009 . prae.hu . PRAE- a művészeti portál . 25 July 2023 . A vizualitásra és az új szenzibilitásra tett hangsúlyt az is bizonyítja, hogy amúgy Gerevich András kifejezetten jó a verstanban. Nagyon jól ismeri és elsajátította a klasszikus topikus és akusztikus technét, a legendás Lator-szemináriumok szorgalmas hallgatója volt. A szabadvers forma, a metaforátlan versbeszéd szándékos a költészetében . The emphasis on visuality and new sensibility is also proven by the fact that András Gerevich is especially good at composition. He knows and has mastered classical topical and acoustic techne very well, and was a diligent student of the legendary Lator seminars. The free verse form, the metaphorless verse speech, is intentional in his poetry. . 25 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230725073458/https://www.prae.hu/article/2202-a-homoszexualitas-szenzibilis-poetikaja/ . live .
  9. Web site: Barátkozás Gerevich András új könyvével. Make Friends with András Gerevich's New BOOK. PRAE.HU - a művészeti portál. Endre. Balogh. 15 February 2010. hu. 7 July 2023. 27 March 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230327202337/https://www.prae.hu/news/5657-baratkozas-gerevich-andras-uj-konyvevel/. live.
  10. Web site: Radics . Viktória . MI MINDENT HORD A SZERELEM, Gerevich András: Barátok. Love Carries All, András Gerevich: Friends. 14 December 2022 . Revizor . 29 September 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140213201021/http://www.revizoronline.com/hu/cikk/1795/gerevich-andras-baratok . 13 February 2014 . hu.
  11. . 11 November 2009 . Túl a mellszőrzet poétikáján . Beyond the poetics of chest hair . hu . Könyves Magazin . Budapest . 8 July 2023 . 8 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230708184714/https://konyvesmagazin.hu/kritika/tul_a_mellszorzet_poetikajan_szerk.html . live .

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