Contemporary Jewish Writing in Hungary

by Suleiman, Susan Rubin; Forgacs, Eva

• ISBN13: 9780803293045
• ISBN10: 0803293046
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: Bison Books

Summary

Contemporary Jewish Writing in Hungary features works by twenty-four of Hungary's best writers who have written about what it means to be Jewish in post-Holocaust Eastern Europe. This volume includes work by Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertész and other internationally known writers such as György Konrád and Péter Nádas, but most of the authors appear here in English for the first time. This anthology features poetry, long and short stories, and excerpts from memoirs and novels by postwar writers. Some of these authors were well known in Hungary before World War II, some were children or adolescents during the war and began publishing in the 1970s, some were born to survivors in the years immediately following the war and grew up during the decades of Communist rule, while others started publishing chiefly after the fall of Communism in 1989.Unique among Eastern European countries, Hungary still has a large and visible Jewish population, many of them writers and intellectuals living in Budapest. This anthology introduces English-speaking readers to outstanding works of literature that show the wide range of responses to Jewish identity in contemporary Hungary. The editors' introduction provides a historical and critical context for these works and discusses the important role of Jews in Hungarian culture from the late nineteenth century to the present.Susan Rubin Suleiman is C. Douglas Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France and a professor of comparative literature at Harvard University. Her many books include Budapest Diary: In Search of the Motherbook (Nebraska 1996) and Risking Who One Is: Encounters with Contemporary Art and Literature. Éva Forgács, formerly a professor of art history at the Hungarian Academy of Crafts and Design, teaches at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California. Her books include The Bauhaus Idea and Bauhaus Politics and the co-edited volume Between Worlds: A Sourcebook of Central European Avant Gardes, 1910-1930.

Author Biography

Susan Rubin Suleiman is C. Douglas Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France and a professor of comparative literature at Harvard University. Her many books include Budapest Diary: In Search of the Motherbook (Nebraska 1996) and Risking Who One Is: Encounters with Contemporary Art and Literature. Éva Forgács, formerly a professor of art history at the Hungarian Academy of Crafts and Design, teaches at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California. Her books include The Bauhaus Idea and Bauhaus Politics and the co-edited volume Between Worlds: A Sourcebook of Central European Avant Gardes, 1910–1930.
Contributors include: Zsófia BallaIstván Gábor BenedekGyörgy DalosMária Emberágnes GergelyPÉter KántorImre KertÉszGyörgy G. Kardos György KonrádMihály KornisPÉter LengyelStefánia MándyLászló MártonPÉter NádasOttö OrbánIstván örkÉnyBalázs SimonGyörgy SomlyóGyörgy SpiróGábor T. SzántoErnö SzÉpEszter Tábor István VasBÉla Zsolt

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xi
Susan R. Suleiman
Eva Forgacs
Excerpt from The Smell of Humans	3	(14)
Erno Szep
Excerpt from Kilenc koffer (Nine suitcases)	17	(48)
Bela Zsolt
Poems
Istvan Vas
Excerpt from 'Rhapsody: Keeping Faith'	55	(4)
Boccherini's Tomb	59	(6)
Excerpt from Rampa (The ramp)	65	(40)
Gyorgy Somlyo
Selections from One-Minute Stories
Istvan Orkeny
In Memoriam Dr. H.G.K.	99	(1)
Coal	99	(2)
The Last Cherry Pit	101	(4)
Let's Learn Foreign Languages	105	(6)
You Must Like Theophile Gautier	111	(12)
Gyorgy G. Kardos
Excerpt from Hajtukanyar (Hairpin turn)	123	(30)
Maria Ember
Poems
Stefania Mandy
Consciousness	147	(1)
Stolen History	148	(5)
Excerpt from Fateless	153	(18)
Imre Kertesz
Long, Dark Shadow	171	(10)
Excerpt from The Loser	181	(34)
Gyorgy Konrad
Poems
Agnes Gergely
Crazed Man in Concentration Camp	197	(1)
Berakhyah Distorts Phaedrus	198	(1)
Imago 9 -- The Parchment	199	(2)
Hualing's Garden in Iowa	201	(6)
Poems
Otto Orban
Poets	207	(1)
Canto	208	(2)
Europe	210	(1)
The Choice	210	(1)
The Snows of Yesteryear	211	(1)
The Beauty of War	211	(4)
The Torah Scroll of Totkomlos	215	(28)
Istvan Gabor Benedek
The Untenanted Floors of Tomorrow	243	(14)
Peter Lengyel
The Lamb	257	(44)
Peter Nadas
Excerpt from A korulmeteles (The circumcision)	301	(20)
Gyorgy Dalos
Excerpt from Napkonyv (Daybook): The Cemetery	321	(36)
Mihaly Kornis
Danube Blues	357	(10)
Forest	367	(18)
Gyorgy Spiro
Excerpt from Arnyas foutca (A shady high street)	385	(18)
Laszlo Marton
Poems
Zsofia Balla
Commemoration	397	(1)
And Then for the Thousands	398	(1)
National Diet	398	(1)
I Am Afraid, That's the Point	399	(1)
You Want to Speak, the Wafer Sticks in Your Throat	399	(4)
Poem: Ancestor	403	(12)
Peter Kantor
Poems
Eszter Tabor
Objective Fate	411	(1)
Away, Stranger	411	(4)
The Tenth Man	415	(6)
Gabor T. Szanto
Poem: David's Dance	421	(10)
Balazs Simon
Notes on the Editors and on Translators Commissioned for This Volume	431	(4)
Source Acknowledgments	435