Peter Tamas Viczai
HungaryBiography of Péter Tamás Vizái
Péter Tamás Vizái was born on November 8, 1967, in Sombathely, Hungary. He is a philologist, literary scholar, journalist, Russianist, and the leading researcher of Vladimir Vysotsky's works in Hungary. Vizái is also the author and compiler of several books about Vysotsky. He is a member of the Union of Hungarian Journalists and the Union of Writers of Moscow, as well as a candidate of pedagogical sciences. He writes and publishes his works in both Hungarian and Russian.
Education and Research
Vizái studied in a general education and secondary school. After completing his studies at the Szeged Pedagogical Institute and obtaining a bachelor's degree, he continued his education in Moscow at the A.S. Pushkin State Russian Language Institute. In 1994, he completed his master's degree, followed by his doctoral studies in 1996. Both his master's and doctoral dissertations were dedicated to the songwriting of Vladimir Vysotsky. In 1993, Vizái's first scientific article about Vysotsky was published in the journal "Russian Language Abroad." Later, at the initiative of the chief editor of the journal, A.V. Abramovich, he became a member of the international editorial board.
Career and Contributions
Meeting Professor N.D. Burvikova, a doctor of philological sciences at the A.S. Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, played a decisive role in Vizái's creative biography. He later became a welcome guest on the pages of other Russian journals. Vizái's works on Vysotsky's creativity were published more and more frequently. The year 2000 was particularly significant when, under the editorship of the young researcher, the "Anniversary Collection in Memory of Vladimir Vysotsky on the 20th Anniversary of the Actor, Poet, Bard, and Man's Death" was published in Hungary.
Since 2006, Vizái has regularly been published in various Russian literary publications, as well as in the Budapest Russian-language newspaper "Russian Courier." In the same year, at the personal initiative of the outstanding Russian poet Rimma Kazakova, he was accepted into the Union of Writers of Moscow.
Vizái is married to Natalya Vadimovna Gushchina, a graduate of the A.S. Pushkin State Russian Language Institute in Moscow. In 1994, he was accepted into the Hungarian non-governmental organization "Association of Russian Language and Literature Teachers of the North Danube Region of Hungary." In 2006, he was elected its chairman and editor-in-chief of the journal "Russian Language Today." In 2008, he was awarded a commemorative medal featuring Vysotsky's image and an honorary diploma from the Samara Regional Public Fund "Vysotsky Center in Samara." Nikita Vysotsky, Vladimir Vysotsky's son, follows Vizái's work and acknowledges it. This is evidenced by the fact that he has written multiple forewords to Vizái's books and invited the Hungarian researcher to participate in the celebration of Vladimir Vysotsky's 70th anniversary in Moscow in 2008.
Vizái has been awarded a commemorative diploma by the First Secretary of the Union of Writers of Moscow, Rimma Kazakova, and an honorary certificate from the literary association "Lyutnya Orioly." His most significant publication in Russian was the book "Hungarian Pages of Vladimir Vysotsky's Life and Creativity" (Eger, 2006).
Contemporary Russian poet Leonid Volodarsky said about Vizái's work: "His works do not become repetitions of what already exists in large quantities on the homeland of the modern classic. They have a unique and incomparable character. It is not accidental that Hungarian Péter Vizái has made his understanding of Vysotsky so interesting that he has become one of the most authoritative specialists on the works of the great bard among Russian readers!"
In the academic year 2010-2011, Vizái lived and worked in Accra, Africa, where he taught Russian language at the University of Ghana and promoted Vysotsky's works among the young intelligentsia of the country.
