“And the Fish Sparkled, Like Poetry that is Good": Fish in the Poetry and Artworks of Gyula Takáts

Fish are an important motif in Gyula Takáts’s poetry, prose, and drawings, the root of which, in addition to his fishing experiences in childhood and adulthood, are the observed water landscape, the fishermen, and the world of fishermen on the North and South shores of the Western basin of Lake Balaton – he had houses in Györök and Fonyód. According to Takáts, fish are not just food but also the mysterious inhabitants of the lake. While the poets and painters of Balaton usually depict the shapes of the landscape, the changing lights, and the forms and reflections above the water surface, to Takáts, the Balaton landscape shows more than just the mountains of the Northern coast and the sailboats.

Keywords: fish, poetry, painting, drawing