For better or verse?

A fair amount of hot air has been emitted over literary translation in general, with talk of the destruction of source-texts, the invisibility of the translator and the rest. Verse translation, however, is spoken of even more oddly at times, and the object of this paper is to examine the problem and propose a future course.

The Woman in Blue (short story)

Ervin Lázár

They were looking for a woman with a baby, he said, and anybody that sees them is bound by the rigor of the law to report it. If they don’t, they’ll be shot and their house burnt to the ground.

Csókolom

Is it possible, I ask myself, to somehow follow the life or the soul of a nation through this one tiny expression? - The musings of a translator of Hungarian literature a propos of the reappearance of an old expression of greeting.

Playwright and right-wing politician István Csurka dies at 77

Born in Budapest in 1934, István Csurka was a writer active from the 1960s, as well as a politician with extreme rightist views, the founder of a radical nationalist party and a right-wing magazine.

The Burning Bride (short story)

Krisztina Tóth

I close my eyes, in my mind I distance myself from the blue planet and step onto the surface of the smaller planet known as Xanax. In earlier times, beings lived here, the citizens of Catatonia, however they were swept away by the edge of a long dream, and since then the heavenly body is completely uninhabited.

Poem of the month - Dezső Kosztolányi: For Gyula Krúdy

Dezső Kosztolányi found a variety of ways to express his high regard for Gyula Krúdy's person and writings. The ultimate homage is Kosztolányi's visionary poem to Krúdy.

A new volume by János Pilinszky in English: Passio

A volume of fourteen poems by János Pilinszky, translated by Clive Wilmer and George Gömöri, has been published by English poetry publisher Worple Press.

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.