Hungarian Writers
- The Grande Dame: Magda Szabó – A Portrait | Hungarian Literature Online
Follow the link to read an article about the Hungarian novelist Magda Szabó (1917-2007). Doctor of philology, she also wrote dramas, essays, studies, memoirs, poetry, and children's literature. In addition, she was a founding member of the Digital Literary Academy, an online digital repository of Hungarian literature. Szabó is the most translated Hungarian author, with publications in 42 countries and over 30 languages. - Antal Szerb: Why You Should Be Reading Him (by Jennifer Sarha) | European Literature Network
Antal Szerb (1901-1945) was a noted Hungarian scholar and writer, who is generally considered to be one of the major Hungarian writers of the 20th century. Follow the link above to read a review of his most notable literary works. - László Krasznahorkai | New Directions Publishing
László Krasznahorkai (b. 1954) is a Hungarian novelist and screenwriter known for demanding novels, often labeled postmodern, with dystopian and melancholic themes. Follow the link to learn more about his life and oeuvre, and find critics' reviews of his work as well. - The Life of Sándor Márai | Hungary Foundation
Sándor Márai (1900-1989) was a Hungarian writer, poet, and journalist. He authored 46 books, mostly novels, and was considered by literary critics to be one of Hungary's most influential representatives of middle class literature between the two world wars. Follow the link to read more about this outstanding writer.
Hungarian Literature
Fatelessness: A Novel by Call Number: PH3281.K3815 S6713 2004Publication Date: 2004At the age of 14, Georg Koves is plucked from his home in a Jewish section of Budapest and without any particular malice, placed on a train to Auschwitz... The genius of Imre Kertesz’s novel lies in its refusal to mitigate the strangeness of its events. Haunting, evocative, and all the more horrifying for its rigorous avoidance of sentiment, "Fatelessness" is a masterpiece in the traditions of Primo Levi, Elie Wiesel, and Tadeusz Borowski.
The Door by Call Number: PH3351.S592 A7413 2005Publication Date: 2005"The Door" is a stylishly told tale which recounts a strange relationship built up over 20 years between a writer and her housekeeper. After an unpromising and caustic start, benign feelings develop and ultimately the writer benefits from what becomes an inseparable relationship. Simultaneously we learn about the housekeeper's tragic past which is revealed in snapshots throughout the book.
Embers by Call Number: PH3281.M35 G94 2001Publication Date: 2001In a secluded woodland castle an old general prepares to receive a rare visitor, a man who was once his closest friend but then mysteriously disappeared for forty-one years. Over the ensuing hours, the host and his guest will fight a duel of words and silences, accusations and evasions. They will exhume the memory of their friendship and that of the general’s beautiful, long-dead wife. And they will return to the time the three of them last sat together following a hunt in the nearby forest - a hunt during which something was lost forever.
Journey by Moonlight by Call Number: PH3351.S86 U813 2001Publication Date: 2001"Journey by Moonlight" is a 1937 novel by the Hungarian writer Antal Szerb (1901-1945). It is one of the best-known novels in contemporary Hungarian literature. This book follows Mihály, a Budapest native from a bourgeois family on his honeymoon in Italy as he encounters and attempts to make sense of his past.
Satantango by Call Number: PH3281.K8866 S2813 2012Publication Date: 2012Set in an isolated hamlet, the novel unfolds over the course of a few rain-soaked days. Only a dozen inhabitants remain in the bleak village, rank with the stench of failed schemes, betrayals, failure, sudden hopes, and aborted dreams. To this place comes, it seems, a messiah…
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