Book Around the Corner

As mentioned in my entry about my literary escapade in Budapest, I gathered some names while traveling. There’s a great list of Hungarian writers on Wikipedia; my list isn’t here to compete with what Wikipedia can provide.  It’s a personal list, a reminder of the names that caught my eyes.

I visited Mór Jókai’s residence in Balatonfüred where I learnt he was the most famous Hungarian writer of the 19^th century.

As I’d never heard of him, I had to check him out later on. Only Rêve et vie is available in French but he did write a lot of novels. I wonder why they aren’t translated.

I’ve also visited the Petőfi Sándor museum. Sándor Petőfi (1823-1849) was something like the Hungarian Lermontov (1814-1841). Both were poets, died young and were in the military. Sándor Petőfi was a renowned poet and only 26 when he disappeared during the war following the Hungarian revolution of 1848. He’s considered as Hungary’s national poet. I’m curious about his poetry –although he’s a Romantic—but I wonder how Hungarian poetry can be successfully translated into French without losing too much.

Of course, I spent some time in a bookstore and came back with books:

I’m looking forward to read them, especially Colours and Years because it’s written by a woman. Apart from these, my TBR of Hungarian literature consists of a few other novels:

• Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb
• Oliver VII by Antal Szerb
• Epépé by Férenc Kárinthy
• N.N. by Gyula Krúdy that I intend to read with Passage à l’Est in July
• Fateless by Imre Kertész that I’ll read in September with Caroline

I know I should read The Door by Magda Szabó and Satantango by László Krasznahorkai but every time I’ve had them in hand in a bookstore, I’ve put them down. Dark and daunting. I’m not sure they’re for me. I’d rather read Journey Around My Skull by Frigyes Kárinthy.

Here’s a list of writers I want to explore, the problem is time, time, time…

If someone is interested, you can find my billets about Hungarian books filed under the category Hungarian literature. (Sándor Márai, István Örkény, Zsigmond Móricz, Dezső Kosztolányi, Frigyes Karinthy, Antal Szerb, Milán Füst)

Do you know any of these writers? If yes which ones and who would you recommend?