REMENYI, JOSEPH (1 Dec. 1892-25 Sept. 1956) was a widely recognized Hungarian-American writer who served as professor of comparative literature at Western Reserve Univ. (see CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY) for a quarter-century. Born in Pozsony, Hungary, he was educated at Francis Joseph Royal Univ. in Szeged and also studies at the Universities of Budapest and Vienna. He worked for several European newspapers before emigrating to Cleveland in 1914 to become an editorial writer for the Hungarian-language daily, SZABADSAG. In 1918 he married Margaret Papolczy (1892-1975), a Hungarian-born actress who thereupon gave up the stage except for an appearance later that year in a one-act play written by her husband for the CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE. Entitled 30 Jefferson Arcade, its setting was reminiscent of LAUKHUFF'S BOOKSTORE in the Taylor Arcade. Remenyi also began writing novels about the Hungarian-American immigrant experience, which were published in Hungarian back in Budapest. Some of them, such as Szerelmesek Voitak (They Were in Love), had a Cleveland background. He was hired by RAYMOND MOLEY in 1922 to conduct social surveys for the CLEVELAND FOUNDATION and also was an immigration consultant for Cleveland Trust (see AMERITRUST). He began teaching in 1929 at WRU's Cleveland College, where his lectures on European writers often earned spontaneous applause from his classes. In 1935 he published an anthology of American authors, Modern American Fiction, in Budapest, while a collection of his own writings, Hungarian Writers and Literature, was published posthumously in this country under the direction of his widow in 1964. He died childless.
Finding Aid for the Jozsef Remenyi Correspondence, WRHS.
Flory, Julia McCune. The Cleveland Play House: How It Began (1965).