George Szirtes' blog - day four

A cautionary tale

L had been an unemployed steel worker from Miskolc and had been attracted by an advertisement in a major Hungarian newspaper offering work in England. He went to an office in Budapest, was told about the job and presented with a contract that he signed. The contract was in English, not in Hungarian and he signed without understanding it.

George Szirtes's blog - day three

To London for Márai

Márai is easy to translate. What I mean to say is that he gives himself to you and invites you to enjoy the clear rhetorical circling of his prose as he uncovers layer after layer of motivation. He is all burning curiosity tempered by patience.

George Szirtes' blog - day two

Heavy industry – light industry

Creative writing is almost a branch of heavy industry. The number of courses suggests an intense interest in literature, albeit more in its production than in its consumption.

George Szirtes's blog - day one

Working in Wymondham

Since this journal is now, for a week at least, posted (in Hungarian translation) at Litera, the website for Hungarian writers, it may be an act of courtesy to introduce them to this part of England.

The artists of taxidermy

György Pálfi: Taxidermia

In the category of feature films at the 37th Hungarian Film Festival, the screening of György Pálfi’s new film Taxidermia was preceded by much expectation. The movie is based on the short stories and writings of Lajos Parti Nagy. The screenplay was written by the director and Zsófia Ruttkay.

Being human

Gabor Terebess: Haiku in the Luggage

Gabor Terebess’ haiku is a kind of Magical Mystery Tour, leading from a zen monastery through revolutionary Paris on to the land of Australia and the island of Bali.

Time to build the tower of Babel

babelmatrix.org

In February 2005, a multilingual portal called Babelmatrix was launched on the world wide web. At present, the site offers access to outstanding pieces of Hungarian literature in the English, Czech, Dutch, Polish, German, Russian and Portuguese languages. This, however, reveals next to nothing about the ultimate objectives of the website.

Budapest Bardroom’s hexidecimal edition

An English-language show in Budapest

The Budapest Bardroom defines itself as an ‘English-language show in Budapest, featuring poetry, music and spoken word by local and visiting performers’. This fall’s Bardroom session was themed around the date: an inconspicuous October 16th, being Sunday, but that turned out to be irrelevant. English-reading Budapest, alive and kicking.

A permanent Woodstock

Sziget Festival, Budapest

Start to plan your summer vacation ahead! HLO is trying to help you choose by bringing you the history of one of the most colourful festivals in Europe, told by a musician/journalist who was there right from the outset.

Interest in these "distant" cultures

Simon Corrigan

In common with most British schoolchildren, I didn't receive much grounding in Hungarian literature. Even when, in my teenage years, I started exploring the literature of other (and in those days Hungary was particularly 'other') European cultures, Hungary was conspicuous by its absence.