KARDOS, LÁSZLÓ

KARDOS, LÁSZLÓ (1898–1987), Hungarian literary scholar and translator. Kardos became a teacher at the Jewish high school in his native Debrecen. After World War II he worked in the Hungarian Ministry of Education until 1950, when he was appointed professor of world literature at Budapest University. Kardos made his name as a skilled translator from many languages. In addition to Greek and Latin authors he translated English, French, German, Czech, Polish, Romanian, and Russian classics into Hungarian. His literary sensitivity enabled him to translate even from languages which he did not know fluently. With the help of expert assistants he produced, for example, an anthology of Hebrew poetry, Héber költők antológiaja (1942). Kardos also edited a Hungarian periodical devoted to world literature, Nagyvilág. His works include Ay huszonegyéves Ady Endre (1922), Karinthy, Frigyes (1946), Válogatott műforditások (1953), and Toth Árpád (1955). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Magyar Irodalmi Lexikon, 1 (1963), 583; M. Szabolcsi (ed.), A magyar irodalom története 1919 – töl napjainkig, 6 (1966), 65–67. (Baruch Yaron)