Kisfaludy, Károly

Related Category: Russian and Eastern European Literature: Biographies

(kä´roi kĭsh´fŏldē), 1788–1830, Hungarian dramatist, founder of the Hungarian national drama. Kisfaludy traveled abroad extensively and studied painting before he returned to Hungary and began his literary career. His Tatars in Hungary (1819) was the first genuinely dramatic Hungarian play and the first of the many successes by which he established the national drama and the Hungarian romantic movement. With his brother Sándor he was cofounder (1822), editor, and a major contributor of the vigorous, influential literary journal Aurora. Among his works are the comedies The Suitors and The Rebels and the tragedy Irene. His brother, the poet Sándor Kisfaludy, 1772–1844, is considered the first major romantic poet of Hungary. He is especially celebrated for his two volumes of love lyrics, The Loves of Himfy (1801, 1807).