Posts from April 2009

Julio Baghy

Posted by Transparent Language 4 Comments
Apr 30 2009

Let’s talk about another famous Esperanto author today. This time, the subject is Julio Baghy, a Hungarian professional actor from the early 20th century. He was one of the first writers in the Esperanto movement, since he came along early into Esperanto’s life. He wrote a great deal of Esperanto literature, but Baghy is more famous for his quality Esperanto poetry.

Some of Baghy’s works include “Preter la Vivo” (Beyond Life, or Beyond the Life), which is a collection of verses, “Pilgrimo” (Pilgrim), a poem about hope and optimism and a drastic contrast from the flavor of “Preter la Vivo,” and the poem “Vagabondo Kantas” (the Vagabond Sings). Baghy’s earlier works draw heavily on his pessimism and disillusionment following World War I, where he was a prisoner of war in Siberia. During his internment, he wrote Esperanto works, and taught the language to other captives.

I haven’t been able to find any of Baghy’s texts online, since most of them have yet to enter the public domain. However, his books are still in print, and you can easily buy a copy of “Preter la Vivo” or “Pilgrimo” (an anthology that contains the title poem) from most reputable Esperanto catalogues.

Antoni Grabowski

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Apr 30 2009

Antoni Grabowski was not necessarily an Esperanto author, since he did not write any major literaty works of his own. However, as a contemporary of L.L. Zamenhof, Grabowski did more than his part to help spread awareness and interest in Esperanto. As one of the first translators of the language, Grabowski brought forth phenomenal translations of notable German and Russian authors. His most famous translations are probably those of Aleksandr Pushkin and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Oddly enough, though languages were his hobby, Grabowski’s career seldom involved such heavy linguistic involvement. Like Zamenhof, he was a man of science. Grabowski was a chemical engineer, and is noted for publishing Poland’s first chemical dictionary, “Slownik Chemiczny.” It goes to show how accessible Esperanto is, that people of any career can invest in learning and writing it!

Claude Piron

Posted by Transparent Language 2 Comments
Apr 30 2009

Some time ago, I mentioned the French author Claude Piron in a post. Continuing in this week’s trend of examining notable Esperanto authors, I think it’s time we paid him his due! Piron was born to be a universal author, as he worked as a translator for the United Nations. He spoke five different languages, excluding Esperanto! I think it says something about the Esperanto language that someone of his immense linguistic experience would choose to base his literary career upon it.

Though he wrote poetry, novels, articles, and pretty much every other literary form in Esperanto, Piron is most remembered for two works in particular: “Gerda Malaperis” (Gerda Disappeared), which we visited in an earlier post, and the nonfiction text “La Bona Lingvo” (The Good Language). In the latter work, Piron puts forth one of the most convincing arguments for adopting Esperanto. He presents lots of linguistic reasons for doing so, but interestingly enough, he mentions somewhere in the work that, once he had learned a solid vocabulary base in Esperanto, he was able to think much more clearly in Esperanto than any other language!

If you would like to hear some of Piron’s case for Esperanto, there is a Youtube video that you can watch here. Gerda Malaperis can be found in its entirety at this site, where it is the basis for a 25-part Esperanto course.

William Auld

Posted by Transparent Language 2 Comments
Apr 30 2009

Scottish-born William Auld ranks among the best Esperanto authors of recent times – if not of all time! His long literary career included the editorship of several Esperanto magazines, and for a few years in the late 70s he was the Vice President of the World Esperanto Association. He compiled anthologies, wrote many poetry books, translated plenty of English-language literature, wrote essays on Esperanto, and even wrote four textbooks for teaching and learning Esperanto! His crowning glory was the epic poem “La Infana Raso” (the infant race), which we visited a long while ago in this blog when we examined Esperanto poetry.

Auld is probably one of my favorite poets, in all the languages I know. But, don’t take my word alone that he’s excellent. From 1999 until 2006 (the year of his death), he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He never won, unfortunately…Imagine the recognition Esperanto would have received if he had earned one! However, the mere fact that he was nominated is a testament to his immense literary skill and poetic expertise. Search him on the Internet to find some of his poems!

Harold Brown, “La Pesto”

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Apr 30 2009

Playwright (verkisto) Harold Brown was one of the leading figures in Esperanto drama. When he died of a stroke in 2004, Brown had completed a surprising number of Esperanto books, plays, and articles. Though I can’t confess to have read half of his works, I am quite familiar with the play for which he is most famous: A brief two-person drama called “La Pesto” (The Plague). You can find a PDF copy of the play at his website.

In La Pesto, a man and woman who remain unnamed, and of indeterminate age, sit in a cafe and discuss the fallout of what seems to be a catastrophic plague. Their nation is heavily quarantined, requiring identification and a clean bill of health to navigate the countryside. In addition, the panic of the widespread affliction is beginning to take its toll on society, undermining what little stability remains in the government. The play unfolds as a worrisome meditation on human mortality that concludes on a surprising note of hope.

The play is definitely worth the read. Take a look at Harold Brown, and savor one of Esperanto’s finest authorial voices.

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