Paul Tabori
Paul Tabori was a prolific Hungarian author and journalist born on May 8, 1908, in Budapest. He had a diverse educational background, earning a Ph.D. in 1930 and later a doctorate in economics and political science. Tabori's career spanned several roles, including foreign correspondent, director of literary services, and a regular broadcaster for the BBC, alongside a significant freelance writing career that lasted from 1927 to 1974. He published extensively, including works in science fiction, parapsychology, and scholarly studies, with his output including nine novels in just nine years, various screenplays, and contributions to television.
Tabori was recognized for his contributions to literature and human rights, receiving multiple awards such as the Medal of the City of Paris and the British Screen Writers Guild Laurel Award. His involvement in organizations like the International P.E.N. underscores his commitment to promoting literature and defending free expression. Notably, he maintained a friendship with psychic researcher Harry Price and co-wrote a significant report on psychical research in 1971. Paul Tabori passed away in 1974, leaving behind a rich legacy of literary and scholarly works.
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Paul Tabori
Writer
- Born: May 8, 1908
- Birthplace: Budapest, Hungary
- Died: November 9, 1974
- Place of death: London, England
Biography
Paul Tabori was born on May 8, 1908, to Cornelius, a journalist and afficionado of occult studies, and Elsa (Ziffer) Tabori in Budapest, Hungary. Educated in Switzerland, Hungary, and Germany, he earned a Ph.D. in 1930 at the Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm University and a doctorate in economics and political science in 1932 from the Pazmany Peter University, later known as the University of Budapest. He married Katherine Elizabeth Barlay one year later.
From 1926 to 1931, Tabori was a foreign correspondent for Az Est Newspapers in Hungary. From 1932 to 1937, he was the director of the Mid-European Literary Service in Hungary and then the London director of the World Literary Service from 1937 to 1941. In the ensuing years, he was an assistant editor, a crime reporter, a diplomatic correspondent, a film critic, a European feature editor, a director, an educational consultant, a producer, a regular BBC broadcaster to occupied Europe, and a visiting professor. Most significantly, he was a freelance writer from 1927 to 1974, publishing a prodigious number of works of science fiction and popular books on parapsychology, as well as biography and scholarly studies. In a thirty-nine year period, with only twelve years not seeing a publication, he produced nine novels in nine single calendar years, with sixteen calendar years seeing from two to six novels each. He edited ten books, translated thirteen, wrote thirty screenplays, wrote one hundred television films and plays. He was translated into over nineteen languages.
In his 1959 publication, The Natural Science of Stupidity, Tabori noted: “Modern war has decimated many a country; but it has always spawned millions of bureaucrats. They fatten on shortages and thrive on trouble. Peace can never offer such opportunities for exercising petty tyrannies, using red tape to regiment the individual and making life generally unpleasant.
He became close friends with psychic researcher Harry Price and was named executor of Price’s estate. With Phyllis Raphael, he wrote Beyond the Senses: A Report on Psychical Research and Occult Phenomena in the Sixties, which was published in 1971.
Tabori received much recognition and many awards throughout his life. In 1961, he received the Medal of the City of Paris and, in 1964, the British Screen Writers Guild Laurel Award. Also in 1964, he founded and directed the International Writers Guild, receiving a special award from the organization in 1967. He was involved in the International P.E.N. [defined as “an association of writers working to advance literature, defend free expression, and foster international literary fellowship”] as chair of the Center for Writers in Exile and acting chair of the international writers in prison committee. Tabori died in 1974, having published twenty-five works in the last five years of his life.