György Gaal

author

György Gaal

1783–1855

A pioneer of Hungarian folk-tale collecting, this writer and translator helped bring stories from oral tradition into print. Working mostly in Vienna, he also introduced Hungarian literature to German-speaking readers through translation.

3 Audiobooks

Gaal György magyar népmese-gyűjteménye (3. kötet)

Gaal György magyar népmese-gyűjteménye (3. kötet)

by György Gaal

Gaal György magyar népmese-gyűjteménye (2. kötet)

Gaal György magyar népmese-gyűjteménye (2. kötet)

by György Gaal

Gaal György magyar népmese-gyűjteménye (1. kötet)

Gaal György magyar népmese-gyűjteménye (1. kötet)

by György Gaal

About the author

Born in Pressburg (now Bratislava) in 1783, György Gaal was a Hungarian writer, translator, librarian, and early collector of folk tales. He studied in Pest and Vienna, entered the service of the Esterházy family, and was later appointed librarian to their renowned library in Vienna.

Gaal wrote mainly in German and became known for translating Hungarian works for readers outside Hungary. He is especially remembered as a pioneer of Hungarian folk-tale collecting: over many years, he gathered stories from oral sources and helped preserve them in literary form.

He died in Vienna in 1855. Today he is valued both for his role in sharing Hungarian literature across languages and for helping save traditional tales that might otherwise have been lost.