Andras Visky

The son of a distinguished pastor in the Hungarian Reformed Church, is one of Hungary’s and Romania’s most influential playwrights. A deeply spiritual man, he is not only a playwright but an essayist, poet, philosopher, theologian, dramaturge and publisher. He is the author of several plays that have been produced in Hungary, Romania and the U.S. He is an ethnic Hungarian, but has lived all his life in Transylvania which since 1920 has been part of Romania, and has for many years been a leader in promoting artistic collaboration and cultural understanding between Romanians and the Hungarian minority in Romania. He is no stranger to Calvin College, having visited the campus on four previous occasions, the first of which was to attend the premier of Divine Reverberations, which was a play created by a class of Calvin students about Hungarian Christians who had been persecuted under communism – one of whom was his own father, Ferenc Visky. Andras Visky is an exceptional artistic, spiritual and intellectual resource, and Calvin College and its students are truly blessed to have him here next academic year.

2009 - 2010 Courses

CAS 248 (Fall and Spring): Writing for the Media. Dr Visky will teach a course on “Adaptation of Non-Theatrical Texts for Stage and Screen.” One of Visky’s most successful plays, Long Friday, is an adaptation of  Kaddish for an Unborn Child, by the Nobel Prize-winning Hungarian novelist Imre Kertesz. He is also the author of several screenplays. Dr Visky will teach another version of this course in the spring, and it can be taken again as an elective.

CAS 395 (Fall): Special Topics in Communication – Hungarian and Romanian Theatre. This course will focus on the playwrights, directors, actors and designers who emerged during the communist years in both countries, and on how they developed and matured since 1989. Dr Visky (who was once a dissident and political prisoner in Romania) is a living part of this artistic and intellectual history, and will offer a unique and first-hand perspective on it.

Interim: The Gospel of John as Greek Tragedy. In this course, students study how John first understood the meaning of Greek tragedy and how, as an inspired writer, he sanctified the form through the writing of his gospel. Issues such as inspiration, message, myth, truth and identity will inform and provoke ours discussions about the relationship between art and the Bible.

Questions? Contact Professor Michael Page