Teréz Ferenczy

Teréz Ferenczy (17 December 1823 – 22 May 1853) was a Hungarian poet. She came to wider public prominence as a result of her shocking suicide, and most of her poems were published only posthumously. By the final part of the nineteenth century her work had been largely forgotten. It has undergone a revival since the 1970s, however.

Life Teréz Ferenczy was born in Rimavská Sobota, a mid-sized market town which at that time was in Hungary, which in turn was part of the Austrian Empire. (Today, following frontier changes, Rimavská Sobota is in southern Slovakia.) While she was still very small the family relocated to Szécsény at the edge of the Hungarian plain to the north of Budapest. The move seems to have come about in connection with her father's work. Sámuel Ferenczy descended from various prominent and aristocratic families. Teréz Ferenczy's mother, born Teréz Ballay, was the daughter of a minor landlord in the area.

Because of the family's modest circumstances, Ferenczy's literary development is believed to have been in large measure the result of self-education. Her father's work as a book binder ensured ample access to books. Her poems are undated which means that sequencing them chronologically presents a challenge.

Published collections / anthologies (selection) Téli csillagok; Ferenczy Teréz hagyományaiból összeszedte Bulcsú Károly; Müller Gyula, Pest 1854 Ferenczy Teréz minden versei; Nógrád Megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága, Salgótarján, 1983 (Nógrádi irodalmi ritkaságok) Téli csillagok. Ferenczy Teréz hagyományaiból. Hasonmás; összeszedte Búlcsú Károly, bev. Galcsik Zsolt; Múzeumbaráti Kör, Szécsény, 1993 (Szécsényi honismereti kiskönyvtár)