József Turóczi-Trostler

TURÓCZI-TROSTLER, JÓZSEF (1888–1962), Hungarian literary scholar, critic, and translator. Born in Moskóc, then Hungary, Turóczi-Trostler became a high school teacher. Between 1917 and 1943, he was literary critic of the German-language newspaper, Pester Lloyd. During the revolution of October 1918, he became a senior official in the Hungarian Ministry of Education, and, following Béla *Kun's Communist revolution, was professor of world literature at Budapest University. Removed from his post by the counterrevolution, he became a teacher at the Jewish *Neolog community's girls' high school in Budapest. From 1945, Turóczi-Trostler was a member of the Hungarian Academy, a member of the Hungarian parliament, and professor of world literature at Budapest University. In 1947, he was made professor of German literature. He edited an anthology of German literature in Hungarian translation and translated works by German authors. His Jewish sympathies and associations declined over the years.

As a young man he contributed poems to József *Patai's periodical, *Mult és Jövő; following his expulsion from Budapest University he wrote several works on Jewish themes; but, when he returned to academic life after World War II, he severed all connection with Judaism. Turóczi-Trostler's major studies include Magyar Simplicissimus (1915), Stefan George (1920), Wassermann (1927), A magyar nyelv felfedezése ("The Discovery of the Hungarian Language," 1933), Thomas Manns Weg zum Mythos (1936), Stefan Zweig (1942), A magyar irodalom európaizálódása ("The Europeanization of Hungarian Literature," 1946), and "Wassermann Literature," (2 vols., 1961), selected research.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.