István Örkény
Örkény István • Illustration — István Örkény 1974 István György Örkény (5 April 1912, Budapest – 24 June 1979, Budapest) was a Hungarian writer whose plays and novels often featured grotesque situations. He was a recipient of the Kossuth Prize in 1973.
Also recorded as Istvan Orkeny · István György Örkény
István Örkény

Vahl Ottó fotóművész · Körkép antológia-sorozat · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Full name
- Örkény István György.
- Born
- 1912. · Budapest.
- Died
- 1979. · Budapest.
- Nationality
- Hungary.
- Occupation
- writer, playwright, pharmacist, dramaturge and chemical engineer.
- Fields
- literature and pharmacy.
- Education
- Eötvös Loránd University.
- Honours
- Kossuth Prize and József Attila Prize.
- Languages
- Hungarian.
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Documentary summary
Örkény István • Illustration — István Örkény 1974 István György Örkény (5 April 1912, Budapest – 24 June 1979, Budapest) was a Hungarian writer whose plays and novels often featured grotesque situations. He was a recipient of the Kossuth Prize in 1973.
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Note VALÉORINE
István Örkény (1912–1979) was a Hungarian chemical engineer, dramaturge and pharmacist, among other activities. Born Örkény István György in Budapest, the chemical engineer died in Budapest.
István Örkény studied at Eötvös Loránd University. The chemical engineer was a member of Digital Literary Academy. István Örkény was active in literature and pharmacy.
Genres include Absurd Drama. Languages used include Hungarian. The chemical engineer received József Attila Prize and Kossuth Prize.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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wikidata · Q361918 · wikipedia · István Örkény
In this article
Biography
Biography
István Örkény studied at Eötvös Loránd University. The recorded working language is Hungarian. The field of work recorded is literature and pharmacy. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are Absurd Drama. Distinctions recorded are Kossuth Prize and József Attila Prize.
The Örkénys were one of the wealthiest families in Budapest and Hungary as a whole. His father Hugo was the owner and CEO of one of the first pharmaceutical companies in Hungary to have presence outside Europe. He graduated from the Piarist Gymnasium in 1930 and enrolled at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics where he studied chemistry. Two years later, he chose to specialize in pharmacology and received his degree in that subject in 1934. In 1937, he became associated with the journal Szép Szó and began traveling; to London and Paris, where he held several odd jobs. He returned to Budapest in 1940 and completed his degree in chemical engineering. He published his first book, Ocean Dance, in 1941. In 1942, he was sent to the Russian Front on the Don River. Due to his Judaism, he was placed in a forced-labor unit. There he was captured and detained in a labour camp near Moscow, where he wrote the play Voronesh. In 1946, he returned home to Budapest. After 1949, he worked as a dramaturge at the Youth Theater and, after 1951, as a playwright at the People's Army Theater. In 1954, he began working as an editor for Szépirodalmi Publishing. He was prohibited from publishing after the Revolution and worked as a chemical engineer at United Pharmaceuticals until 1963. His most famous work, The Toth Family, is about a man who is driven to the verge of insanity and murders the guest his family was having. He was married three times. His second wife, Angéla Nagy was a cookbook writer. They were married from 1948 to 1959. His third wife, Zsuzsa Radnóti was a prize-winning dramaturge. They were married in 1965. He died of heart failure in 1979 and was buried in Farkasréti Cemetery. In 2004, the Madách Chamber Theatre in Budapest was renamed the Örkény Theater in his honour.
Works
Works
• Tengertánc (1941) • Lágerek népe (1947) • Voronyezs (1948) • Macskajáték (Cat's Play, 1966) • Tóték (The Toth Family, 1966) • Egyperces novellák (One Minute Stories, 1968) • "Rózsakiállítás" (The Flower Show, 1977)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1912
István Örkény born at Budapest.
1979
István Örkény died at Budapest.
References ==== Further reading
References ==== Further reading
• The Flower Show and The Toth Family, trans. Michael Henry Heim & Clara Györggyey. New Directions, 1982. • Stevie in the Bloodbath: A Grotesque Play in Two Parts, in A Mirror to the Cage: Three Contemporary Hungarian Plays, ed. and trans. Clara Györgyey. University of Arkansas Press, 1993. • Örkény, István. One Minute Stories, selected and translated by Judith Sollosy. Budapest: Corvina, 1995.. • Örkény, István. More One Minute Stories, selected and translated by Judith Sollosy, preface by Péter Esterházy. Budapest: Corvina, 2006..

István Örkény portrait, 1978, cast, bronze, 39cm.
sculpture photo: László Szlávics, Jr.

Örkény István emléktáblája a Szent Lukács Gyógyfürdőben (Krajcsovics Károly alkotása)
Kispados at Hungarian Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Szállási, Arpád. Örkény István, az író "gyógyszerész" [István Orkény, the writer as "pharmacist"]. Orvosi Hetilap. 149. 16. 761–3. 2008. 10.1556/OH.2008.H-2175.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 4
- The Flower Show and The Toth Family, trans. Michael Henry Heim & Clara Györggyey. New Directions, 1982.
- Stevie in the Bloodbath: A Grotesque Play in Two Parts, in A Mirror to the Cage: Three Contemporary Hungarian Plays, ed. and trans. Clara Györgyey. University of Arkansas Press, 1993.
- Örkény, István. One Minute Stories, selected and translated by Judith Sollosy. Budapest: Corvina, 1995. .
- Örkény, István. More One Minute Stories, selected and translated by Judith Sollosy, preface by Péter Esterházy. Budapest: Corvina, 2006. .
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Studied at
1- Eötvös Loránd UniversityOrganisation
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- István ZsemlicsAuthor
- Isydor VorobkevychAuthor
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