The Modern Novel

Biography

Béla Illés was born in 1895 in Kassa, in the Carpathian region of Hungary. He published his first book in 1916 and then served in World War I. He became a communist and, after the war, went first to Vienna and then Ukraine before ending up in Moscow in 1923. He became very much involved in revolutionary activities, particularly in the field of literature. He served in the army during World War II, ending up as a major. He took part in the liberation of Budapest and then became editor of a literary journal in Hungary. He died in 1974

Other links

The Early Years: Socialist Realism at any Cost (scroll down)
Béla Illés