Barta János was born in 1901 in a farming family. He completed his university studies in Budapest. During his time at Eötvös College his biggest inspiration was János Horváth the prominent literature scholar. In 1923 he graduated  with a  teacher degree in Hungarian and German, then between 1925-27 he was the student of Collegicum Hungaricum  in Berlin. After his return to Hungary he started to publish books and studies on 19th century writers such as Imre Madách and József Katona. In 1950 he became professor at József Eötvös University, Budapest and from 1951 at the Lajos Kossuth University of Debrecen. In January  of 1957 he was appointed rector of the Lajos Kossuth University. During his time as  rector he focused on protecting the university's autonomy and the reestablishment of departments of western languages. After only six month in the rector position the Hungarian Government removed him from the role and appointed a new rector without any consultation with the University Senate.