Games of survival

They acted out well-known dramas or invented new ones, reflecting the cultural pursuits of their community. “Good morning, Ophelia,” the ghetto children no longer allowed to attend school greeted each other in the morning, or “Good morning, Tristan,” or “Good morning, Rigoletto!”

Poem of the month - Ágnes Nemes Nagy: An American Train Station

These poems are starting points and final destinations, poems of homecoming: arrivals at homes chosen, absurdly, in a "nameless" geography in a forgotten American train station.

Danse macabre. Ádám Bodor: The Birds of Verhovina

The quality of Ádám Bodor's humour is akin to the hardly perceptible smile of a Buddhist—as it appears on the smeary face of Eastern Europe. And it can turn into the grimace of horror in any given moment.

Praise for Imre Kertész’s Fiasco

As 2011 drew to a close, magazines and websites put together a list of the best books they reviewed last year. Kertész’s Fiasco, published in English by Melville House, figures at the top of some of these lists.

Notes towards Pilinszky's hagiography

Pilinszky attempted to speak the tongue of angels in a fallen century. He became the self-tormenting conscience of the Hungarian spirit.

A blog on János Kodolányi’s novel I Am He

Why and how could Yehudah have committed the sin which has for ever been linked to his name in the unforgiving consciousness of mankind? Kodolányi traces the events from the viewpoint of the traitor.

Poem of the month - Endre Ady: Christ-cross in the forest

Endre Ady

Waiting for the arrival of Christmas, hoping for tender and quiet touches, trusting in the abatement of our great battles of life, we are trudging towards the manger with Ady's snow-covered Christ-cross in the forest. - Lajos Jánossy's choice.

Close contacts: Miklós Mészöly

“We should not for a moment turn our back on the blazing sun, the present.” This is Mészöly’s torch that should be handed on. - Iván Sándor on Miklós Mészöly.

An even quieter revolution V: A high mark for Miklós Mészöly

Miklós Mészöly has already been referred to in several previous articles as a major ‘godfather’. Given the influence he has had on just about all major authors writing in Hungarian today it is surprising how virtually nothing by him has ever been published in English.

Comparative Hungarian Cultural Studies (Totosy-Vasvári eds.)

Twenty-six essays on Hungarian literature, art, history, gender and cultural studies, written by Hungarian and American scholars on topics ranging from Márai's Embers to Vámbéry and Dracula; from Michael Curtiz to Art Nouveau. - A review.

The hangman's house (excerpt from the novel)

Andrea Tompa

No one had officially told the schoolchildren in Cluj what they were going to portray. All they knew was that they were preparing for a celebration. Then it suddenly dawned on her: the mass of schoolkids were going to portray the Great Leader, Ceaușescu himself, and she is going to be his mouth.

Historical fusion fiction. Noémi Szécsi: The Restless

The story of The Restless begins in 1853, and follows the destiny through half of Europe of a Hungarian family who had escaped from their homeland after the failure of the revolution and struggle for independence against the Habsburgs in 1848-49.

Péter Nádas's Parallel Stories in English

First critical reactions

Péter Nádas’s monumental novel, Parallel Stories, has come out in English translation. Hailed by the publisher as a “once-in-a-generation literary event”, this 1200-page-long novel is a narrative with a multitude of stories and characters, ranging from Nazi Germany to Communist Hungary.

Morning Well (poems) II.

Roland Acsai

"We stand above the valley, mountainside – / Diminutive soothsayers who try to read / This huge, rock-callused palm." - More Norwegian poems by Roland Acsai.