Zsuzsa Takács

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Photo by Péter Peti

Zsuzsa Takács (b. 1938) is the doyenne of contemporary Hungarian poetry (see WLT, Sept. 2015, 46­–47). She started publishing in the early 1970s. Her volumes address both private and historical traumas, the impotence of empathy and language when faced with the suffering of the creature—of a beloved person, or one’s own. She lives in Budapest.

  • A lone figure stands in the polarized light of the subway at night as a train passes in front of him

    The Pillar of Salt

    January 2018
    Zsuzsa Takács
    After deciding to end it all, a woman takes a final subway ride. Z, the story writer, decided to end her diary. What is more, with an eye on approaching Christmas, she would adorn it with s…
  • Open book on a bed. Photo by Steve Petrucelli

    Five Poems

    November 2016
    Zsuzsa Takács
    Open book on a bed. Photo by Steve Petrucelli   9:40 a.m. / Venipuncture  The way they step on one another’s heelsuntil a spindle-legged woman with dyedhair trips in the queue, and all sticktheir nec…
  • Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria / Artothek / Bridgeman images

    The Gardens of Kammer Castle

    November 2016
    Zsuzsa Takács
    Gustav Klimt, Allée in the Gardens of Schloss Kammer, 1912, oil on canvas. Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria / Artothek / Bridgeman images Ride the tram through…
  • Portrait of Wally Neuzil

    Two Poems

    September 2015
    Zsuzsa Takács
    Egon Schiele, Portrait of Wally Neuzil, 1912, oil on wood (32 x 39.8 cm). © 2015 Leopold Museum, Wien, Austria. www.leopoldmuseum.org/en/leopoldcollection/masterpieces/33 On Vision Wally…