András Fáy de Fáj

András Fáy Fáji (Kohány, Zemplén county, 30 May 1786 - Pest, 26 July 1864) writer, politician and national administrator, one of the most active figures of the literary and social movements of the Hungarian reform era, director of the Kisfaludy Society from 1837 to 1841. In one of his writings about András Fáy, Kálmán Mikszáth wrote that if Széchenyi had not been called 'the greatest Hungarian', then András Fáy would have been, and if Ferenc Deák had not been the 'sage of the country', then András Fáy would have been, but he was merely 'the all-rounder of the nation'.

 

His life

He came from a prominent reformed noble family of Fáy, his father was a Fáy László Fáy a landowner of five thousand acres, his mother's oats Krisztina Szemere. The family memory goes back to the Tatar invasion, when one of the ancestors offered his horse to the fleeing king in the Battle of Muhi, who in return donated nobility and the village of Fái to the family.

Childhood

After his parents moved to his paternal grandfather's estate in Gomba (Pest County) in 1791, Fáy spent his childhood years on his maternal grandparents' estate in Gálszec. From there he followed his brother Ferenc to the college in Sárospatak on 30 May 1793. His father first took in a private tutor named Mihály Sinka, and then István Kovács, later pastor of cserépfalu, was his tutor. Data on his educational achievements can be found from 1794. In 1799, after leaving Sárospatak, Fáy continued his studies at the Lutheran Lyceum in Bratislava, mainly to learn German. From there, he returned to Sárospatak in 1803, where he first studied philosophy and then law. His main professors at that time were József Rozgonyi, who had gained fame as a critic of Kant's philosophy, and the renowned jurist Sándor Kövy. At Kövy's encouragement, the law students of the college set up The county of Panczél, an association to model the county administration. András Fáy held the position of deputy bailiff. In addition to various fictitious matters, the students discussed the most important political issues of the parliament at the "county meetings". Within the College, this was the most important arena for discussing national political events, which eventually led to the dissolution of the association by central order.^[2]

In 1803 he lost his mother, and in the same year he suffered from a serious contagious disease: smallpox, which left a mark on his face for the rest of his life.

His youth

After his legal studies in Sárospatak, he became a trainee lawyer in Pest in 1804, where he obtained a degree in law with excellent qualifications. Instead of practising law, however, he took up an administrative post, to please his father: in 1810 he became deputy magistrate of Pest and in 1812 deputy magistrate of Vác district, and later slave magistrate. In 1816 he learned Gypsy, wrote poems, a dictionary and a grammar in Gypsy.^[3] In 1818, he retired to his estate in Mushna to devote his life entirely to literature and social activities. He loved literature and writers: he read a lot, in addition to his mother tongue and the Roman classics in Latin (Cicero and Tacitus), he read modern Enlightenment German, French and English literature, and from 1807 he wrote himself. His house soon became a meeting place for young writers. His regular visitors included his cousin Pál Szemere, Károly Kisfaludy, Mihály Vitkovics and Mihály Vörösmarty, who was the author of the famous Fóti's song was recited in Fáy's vineyard at a harvest festival. Ideas became a plan in the small writers' circle, the centre of which was the welcoming, cheerful host.

Fáy first came to public attention as a writer, but after moving to Pest in 1823 - as a respected leader of Pest County - he became increasingly active in the political and social spheres. With his strong practical sense, his wide knowledge and his great sensitivity, he recognised the causes of our economic and cultural backwardness very early, even before Széchenyi, and as early as 1825 he presented a proposal, indicating the means of remedy (theatre, free industry and trade, better penal code, moral reform, house of correction, improvement of legislation and administration, savings bank, etc.).

Her marriage

Fay did not have a good opinion of the institution of marriage. At his father's urging, he went through the girl-houses of Nógrád and Gömör counties, but "could not find" a suitable wife. So he decided to marry relatively late, at the age of forty-six: he married in October 1832 Zsuzsika Sziráky (1809-1879), the daughter of the judge of Fót, who had lived in the Fáy mansion since the age of six, so that the lord could "educate her". Their son Gusztáv was nine years old when they married.

His civic work

Széchenyi's appearance on the scene, especially in the Credit Fáy enthusiastically joined the "greatest Hungarian", who - recognising in him a nationalist economist with a kinship mindset, whose liberal ideas also influenced him - welcomed him as an ally. First in the assemblies of Pest county and then, in 1835, elected as an envoy, he served the cause of economic and social reform in the National Assembly as a respected member of the opposition, with his unconventional, Hungarian sober speeches. He recruited adherents to his ideas by exhortation and example.

In 1836 he was also elected as a bailiff of Pest county. He actively participated in all cultural and economic movements of the time. For Széchenyi's sake he joined the National Casino, of which he was almost continuously the librarian, and twice director (1835 and 1840). The Academy elected him an honorary member at its first general assembly in 1831. In 1845 he was a member of the Board of Directors and in 1847 he was Vice-Chairman.

The Kisfaludy Society also elected him as its director at its foundation on 6 February 1837. In 1834-35, together with Gábor Döbrentei Buda theatre company director, and later a member of the Academy's committee for theatre, whose tasks included the development of dramatic literature. Throughout his life, Fáy devoted much of his time and effort to national theatre.

Participated in the Defence association the foundation of the The National Circle in his work, urged the establishment of a training institute for governesses, because he considered the importation of governesses from abroad to be harmful from a national point of view. A notable aspect of his work was the Protestant college to be established in Pest and his efforts to unite the two Protestant denominations.

First Savings Bank of Pest

But his most notable work is the First Savings Bank of Pest (a kind of predecessor of today's OTP Bank Rt.), the idea of which was greeted with scepticism not only by the small-minded, but even by Széchenyi himself. But Fáy, after proposing the establishment of the bank at a meeting of the Pest County Council on 19 March 1839, put all his energy and persuasive powers into implementing his plan. He succeeded in raising the funds and the institute started its operations on 11 January 1840. When it was founded, Fay was elected assistant director, a post he held until 1848. In 1847 he proposed - and made serious preparations for this - that the savings bank should be extended to include a life insurance department, but the time was not right. Nevertheless, within a few years, the institution blossomed in an unexpected way (32 branches were added in seven years), weathered the storms of the War of Independence and is still one of our largest and most solid financial institutions.

Retirement from public life

Fáy was an advocate of deliberate progress, distancing himself from all radical ideas. During the War of Independence, he retired to his estate in Mushna: like Széchenyi, he was both averse to the Revolution and its enemies. After 1849 he devoted his life mainly to literature and his family. It was then that he published another series of works. On his return to Pest, the literary community celebrated his 50th anniversary with great affection, and a delegation from the Academy of Letters honoured him with a welcome address. He was president, member of the board of trustees and benefactor of many associations and institutes. He was interested in all public affairs, and contributed to and promoted them all. Pál Szemere wittily but aptly put it as "the all-rounder of the nation"; indeed, he was one of our nation's hardest-working and most useful sons, who devoted his whole life to the good of his country, unselfishly, expecting no reward, but rather sacrificing his own. Throughout his manifold activities he always remained calm, sober and practical, with a sound mind, calm and good-humoured in his dealings, for neither fatigue nor momentary failure disturbed his cheerfulness, good humour and good humour. He was justly called "hilarious wise".

Fáy was also respected by Ferenc Deák, who prepared the Compromise, but the writer and public figure, who was suffering from many illnesses, could no longer be used for his politics. His seventy-eighth birthday was still celebrated with affection, but his death shortly afterwards plunged the whole country into mourning. János Arany wrote a reverent obituary in his memory.

His literary work

His most important works

His first poem was published in 1802 in the Magyar Kurír, and his poems circulated in manuscript until his first book, the A bushel to please his country F. F. A. (Pest, 1807). The booklet, full of songs, tales and epigrams, was published at the encouragement of Ferenc Kazinczy, to whom he dedicated it, and Kazinczy wrote a review of the work in 1811. In 1818, he published the Fresh bok choy. But it was his collection of stories that made him a famous writer: Original tales and aphorisms by András Fáy (Vienna, 1820), of which a second edition was published in the same year, and a third edition in 1825 (in Pest). This collection of tales inspired by Ezopus, Phaedrus and La Fontaine, with its appended aphorisms, is a propaganda and moral exemplar of liberalism.
Recommendation of his book "Falling Flowers" (1861)
He first received official literary recognition in 1824, when he was awarded the 400 forint Marcibányi's big prize. The amount was donated to the college in Sárospatak. In 1825 he published another collection: More original tales and aphorisms by András Fáy (2nd edition in 1828, translated into German and English).

The more than seventeen and a half hundred animal tales, parables and aphorisms he wrote, in which he wrapped his life principles, advice and observations, ridicule many human or national foibles and prejudices. The public understood the meaning of these tales, and their popularity is shown by the circulation figures of the time. Fáy recognized the times early on, and did much of the pioneering work of making a comic narrative taken from Hungarian life (My special will), as well as comedy (Old coins) he was ahead of Károly Kisfaludy.

He wrote the first social novel in 1832 The' House of Béltekÿ (2 vols., Pest, 1832), whose artistic editing leaves something to be desired, and its narrative is overwhelmed by educational reflection, but its healthy spirit, its fertile ideas and its native Hungarian language mark out a respectable place for it in the history of Hungarian literature.

Works of fiction

• Fresh bushes, with which András Fáy favours his homeland; Trattner, Pest, 1818
• Original tales and aphorisms by András Fáy; ill. Pretelitzay; Pichler Ny., Vienna, 1820
• More original tales and aphorisms by András Fáy; Landerer, Pest, 1824
• Favourites (in 2 volumes, including Old coins and humorous short stories, Pest, 1824)
• Andreas Fáy: Original fables and aphorisms (Original tales and aphorisms by András Fáy); translated into German. L. Petz; Ludvigh, Wien, 1825
• Useful home notes (Pest, 1826)
• The' two Báthory. Historical comedy; Landerer, Pest 1827 (historical drama in 5 acts)
• The Bélteky House, 1-2.; Landerer Ny., Pest, 1832
• Useful house notes; collected by András Fáy; 2nd, revised, enlarged edition; Kilián, Pest, 1833
• Cornflowers and calla lilies (2 volumes, 1853)
• Jávor the doctor and his servant Bakator Ambrus (novel, Pest, 1855)
• The wallflowers (novel, 2 volumes, Pest, 1856)
• The Halmay family ("educational work" in novel form, Pest, 1858)
• Falling flowers (3 comedies and 3 short stories)
• The blood; Hungarian Guild of Fine Arts, Pécs, 2011
• Animal stories; Elektra, Érd., 2016 (Tiny tales)

Collectors' volumes

• András Fáy's complete works of fiction, 1-8.; Geibel, Pest, 1843-1844
• Emotions and the flow of the world, a sermon in letters (Budapest 1882. - Cheap library)
• All of András Fáy's haunts (3 volumes, 1883.)
• Hunting in the Mátra (comedy in 3 acts, 1886 - Cheap library)
• The foreigners (comedy in 2 acts, 1884 - Cheap library)
• Selected fairy tales by András Fáy; ed., ill. Ferenc Badics; Lampel, Bp., 1898 (Hungarian library)
• András Fáy's Tales and Allegories from the 1853 edition; ed. András Tótisz; OTP, Bp., 1974

His works on women's education

• A test case of two notable failures of modern education (Pest,1816)
• Women's education and women's educational institutions in our country, with special reference to the lyceums of nobles, principal citizens and respectable citizens; Trattner-Károlyi, Pest, 1841
• The simplest, most natural, experiential and practical education system (1835)
• School and home life (1860.)

Party, political, colour, economic and miscellaneous documents

• Useful home notes (1828)
• András Fáy - Ferencz Kállay - István Jakab: Rewarded answers of the Hungarian Toy-sin to this question of the Hungarian Scientific Society in 1833: How could the Hungarian toy level be permanently established in Budapest?; Hungarian Kir. University, Buda, 1834 REAL-EOD
• Plan for a savings bank for the common people of Pest County (Buda, 1839)
• Rules of the first savings bank in Hungary under the patronage of Pest County (Pest, 1840)
• Proposal for a ref. college to be established in Pest (1840)
• Clockwise (1842.)
• People of the East in the West (Buda, 1842, second enlarged edition 1892, The "Reply" and other treatises on István Széchenyi's The People of the East, 2003)
• People of the East' Nyugoton; 2nd, enlarged ed.; Kilian, Pest, 1842
• Compilations published in Jelenkor around what the country needs to do next (1846)
• The plan of the life assurance undertaking (1848)
• Data for more information on Hungary (1854)
• The impoverishments (Pest, 1862)

In addition to the above, a large number of his articles were published in periodical press publications, which are a valuable record of the history of Hungarian culture. His manuscripts can be found in the National Széchényi Library.

In memory of

• It bears the name of András Fáy:
  • from OTP Fáy András Foundation, as it considers savings banks to be the predecessor of the bank,
  • a savings and loan association,
  • countless schools,
  • A housing estate in the Íróutcák district of Székesfehérvár.
• It gives its name to the András Fáy Prize, awarded annually by the Minister of Defence, in recognition of outstanding scientific and creative work in the fields of economics, financial accounting and asset management in the implementation of military management.
• One of the sights of the town of Fót is the neoclassical-style press house of András Fáy, built in 1837 on the side of the Somlyó Hill. It was here that Mihály Vörösmarty wrote and recited his Fóti song In 1842, to a group of friends of the intellectual élite. The building, which was once a huddle-roofed building with a kitchen wing, is now a cosy restaurant.
• In 1986, on the 200th anniversary of the birth of András Fáy, and in 1990 a medal was issued in his memory.
• In 1986, on the 200th anniversary of András Fáy's birth, a headstone was unveiled in Kiskunhalas, in Bajza Street, in the residential area named after him. After the headstone had decayed, a new one was erected in 2016 on the initiative of the Pásztortűz Association with the support of the OTP Fáy András Foundation.

Sources

• The big lexicon of Pallas
• The big lexicon of Révai
• ↑ Mikszáth 1908: Mikszáth Kálmán: Fáy András. 1786-1864. In Fáy András: The Bélteky House. Edited and with introduction by Kálmán Mikszáth.2. Budapest: Franklin - Társulat Hungarian Literary Institute and Book Printing House. 1908. p. 2. = Illustrated edition of Hungarian novelists, 2.
• ↑ Kovács 2014: Dr. Áron Kovács: The student years of András Fáy in Sárospatak. In "Remembrance and Future": presentations from the conference on the 150th anniversary of the death of András Fáy. Edited by Árpád Tanászi. Sárospatak.