BABITS, MIHÁLY. - Hungarian writer, b. in Szekszárd on Nov. 26, 1883, d. in 1942. He taught philosophy at the Cistercian institute in Baja, but soon abandoned teaching to devote himself entirely to literature. A collaborator of the journal Nyugat (The West), he later became its director. Impeccable form, depth of thought, richness and
His translations of Dante, Shakespeare, Shelley, Poe, and Baudelaire are excellent. His Storia letteraria d'Europa is notable. B. exerted a great influence on modern Hungarian literature as well as, to a certain extent, on that of neighboring countries. Through a long and interesting spiritual struggle, B. arrived at the full acceptance of Catholicism. One of the most significant works of the final period of his life is Amor Sanctus, a Hungarian translation of medieval sacred hymns. But in all his writings it is possible to see the defensor fidei, the champion of God. His translation of the Divina Commedia, upon which he worked for more than ten years, is considered the most perfect existing in the Hungarian language.