Kabdebo, Thomas: Attila József. Can you take on this awesome life? (Budapest, 1997)
1. Ceaseless Childhood
Serbia) and had another son, Mircea Josif. That surname suggests that Áron had retaken his original Romanian name. Áron Josif died in Timisoara in November 1937 some weeks before the death of his Hungarian son: Attila József. Attila's mother, Borbála Pőcze came from peasant stock. Her ancestors were shepherds and agricultural labourers living in Kiskunság which is part of the territory known as 'Between the Rivers' (the rivers being the Danube and the Tisza). At the turn of the century the land was flat and had several lakes and bogs, some of which have since disappeared. During Attila's childhood and youth fishing was an occupation as well as a pastime there. His grandfather, Imre Pőcze, had indulged in fishing as had his oldest uncle Imre Pőcze Junior who was something of a professional. Perhaps it is to this man or to his memory that the poet addresses himself when he says: 'Shepherd of the waters: herd home all the waters of the world.’9 The land surrounding Borbála's birthplace is also known as Kiskunság. Back in the thirteenth century it was a province within the kingdom of Hungary. It was given to the Cumanians, a nomadic people from the East like the Hungarians. Within a century or so, the Cumanians settled, adopted Christianity, and were regarded as Magyars. Yet they never lost their Cumanian identity, just like Comishmen of today, who are still Cornish, English and British. Hence Attila's claim in the poem By the Danube-. 'My mother was Cumanian.’ Cumanian Hungarians of our day are said to be stubborn people. One realises that such labels can be misleading; are all the Scots thrifty? All Italians voluble? - but the psychology is effective. If you are said to display certain characteristics you might as well develop them in order to keep that specific identity. From what we know, Borbála Pőcze used to be a lovely young woman, an extremely stubborn wife and a dogmatic mother. Her toughness was not impregnable. She could be lyrical, she had her dreams, she was emotional - once or twice verging on the unstable - though perhaps because she was breaking under the weight of bringing up a family single-handed from the pittance she earned as a washer woman. Attila, as a child and young man had, on several occasions, stayed with his uncles and aunts. He was photographed with his grandfather. He mixed well with his cousins, the sons and daughters of Sándor and Lajos Pőcze. This peasant family background, his involvement with his relatives and later excursions into the country constitutes much of his childhood memory. A poor man of the land surely represents one half of his being, while the other half was urban and definitely proletarian. By the time Attila got to know him, his grandfather was something of a 'catcher in the rye': 24