BAJZA, JOSEPH (1804–1858), Hungarian poet and critic, was born at Szücsi in 1804. His earliest contributions were made to Kisfaludy’s Aurora, a literary paper of which he was editor from 1830 to 1837. He also wrote largely in the Kritische Blätter, the Athenaeum, and the Figyelmezö or Observer. His criticisms on dramatic art were considered the best of these miscellaneous writings. In 1830 he published translations of some foreign dramas, Ausländische Bühna, and in 1835 a collection of his own poems. In 1837 he was made director of the newly established national theatre at Pest. He then, for some years, devoted himself to historical writing, and published in succession the Historical Library (Törtereti Könyvtár), 6 vols., 1843–1845; the Modern Plutarch (Uj Plutarch), 1845–1847; and the Universal History (Világtörétet), 1847. These works are to some extent translations from German authors. In 1847 Bajza edited the journal of the opposition, Ellenör, at Leipzig, and in March 1848 Kossuth made him editor of his paper, Kossuth Hirlapja. In 1850 he was attacked with brain disease and died in 1858.