Judita Šalgo (1941–1996)

18 Nov Judita Šalgo (1941–1996)

Judita Šalgo was a writer, essayist, and translator from Hungarian and English.

She was born in Novi Sad into a Jewish family, a background that deeply shaped both her personal life and her literary sensibility. During World War II, her parents were taken to concentration camps—her father was killed, while her mother survived and later returned to Novi Sad. Until her mother’s return, Judita was cared for by a Hungarian woman who became like a second mother to her. The themes of motherhood, substitute maternal figures, and questions of identity would remain central to her life and creative work.

After the war, and following her mother’s return, Judita began learning Serbian, as Hungarian had been her native language. She graduated from the Department of Comparative Literature and Literary Theory in Belgrade and later worked as an editor at Matica Srpska, though she was eventually dismissed, allegedly for political reasons.

“I don’t know how things stand in the lunatic asylums and brothels of Europe, but everything is fine here.” – The Road to Birobidzhan

Her early writing was associated with the neo-avant-garde movement that emerged in Novi Sad during the 1960s and 1970s as a response to Yugoslav modernism. This movement was marked by experimentation, particularly in language. Later, Šalgo turned toward novel writing and postmodernist poetics, producing her most acclaimed work, the novel Put u Birobidžan (The Road to Birobidzhan). Although she never explicitly identified as a feminist, she often explored women’s experiences and perspectives in her writing.

Some of her most reknowned works are 67 Minuta naglas (67 Minutes Out Loud, 1980), Život na stolu (Life on the Table, 1986), Da li postoji život (Does Life Exist?, short stories, 1995), and the unfinished novel Kraj puta (End of the Road, 2004), a continuation of The Road to Birobidzhan.

In 1998, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Vojvodina Writers’ Society.

Judita Šalgo bila je književnica, esejistkinja i prevodilac sa mađarskog i engleskog jezika. Rođena je u Novom Sadu u jevrejskoj porodici, što je duboko oblikovalo njen identitet i književni senzibilitet. Tokom Drugog svetskog rata, njeni roditelji su odvedeni u koncentracione logore – otac je stradao, dok je njena majka uspela da se spasi i vrati u Novi Sad. Do majčinog povratka, o Juditi je brinula mađarska žena koja je postala gotovo druga majka. Teme majčinstva, zamenljivosti matičnih figura i pitanja identiteta postali su centralni motivi u njenom životu i delu.

Nakon rata i povratka majke, Judita je počela da uči srpski jezik, s obzirom da je mađarski bio njen maternji. Diplomirala je na odseku za Opštu književnost i teoriju književnosti u Beogradu, a kasnije je radila kao urednica u Matici srpskoj, iako je na kraju otpuštena, navodno iz političkih razloga.

Njena rani književni rad bio je povezan sa neoavangardnim pokretom koji je nastao u Novom Sadu tokom šezdesetih i sedamdesetih godina kao odgovor na jugoslovenski modernizam. Taj pokret odlikovao se eksperimentisanjem, prvenstveno u jeziku. Kasnije, Šalgo je prešla na roman i postmodernističku poetiku, stvarajući svoje najzapaženije delo, roman Put u Birobidžan. Iako nikada nije sebe izričito smatrala feministkinjom, često je u svom pisanju istraživala ženska iskustva i perspektive.

Neka od njenih najpoznatijih dela su 67 minuta naglas (1980), Život na stolu (1986), Da li postoji život? (priče, 1995), i nedovršeni roman Kraj puta (2004), nastavak Puta u Birobidžan.

Godine 1998. dobila je Nagradu za životno delo od Društva pisaca Vojvodine.