HUNGARIAN SHORT STORIES

September 28, 2008 9:01 AM

HUNGARIAN SHORT STORIES
posted by Taksi Putra (12 comments total)

Great, thanks! Beyond short-stories some of the best Hungarian authors include:

Mihály Babits (1883-1941) notably The Son of Virgil Timar (1922).

Dezső Kosztolányi (1885-1936) notably Naked (1928).

Gyula Krúdy (1878-1933) notably The Youth and Sorrow of Sinbad (1912)

Zsigmond Móricz (1879-1942) notably "Seven Pennies" (1908). Perhaps as good as Emile Zola, he was Hungary's great Naturalist. See also Be Faithful Unto Death (1920).

Frigyes Karinthy (1887-1938). Humorist and Hungary's best satirist. Best known in Engliash as author of the classic A Journey Round my Skull (1937). NYRB just re-published it this year.

Lajos Zilahy (1897-1977), was fairly well known in the West during the 50s and 60s, war novels.

Tibor Dery (1894-1977), Novels and shorts stories about working class. Best known for Niki, the Story of a Dog, a fable of life under communism, international best-seller.
posted by stbalbach at 9:55 AM on September 28, 2008

Hey cool, thanks for this.
posted by tkolar at 10:03 AM on September 28, 2008

..oh and Endre Ady (1877-1919), the father of Hungarian modern literature (should be first). Poetry.
posted by stbalbach at 10:06 AM on September 28, 2008

Taksi Putra: " HUNGARIAN SHORT STORIES"

Aw. You made me miss davesecretaryatwork.
posted by Rhaomi at 10:32 AM on September 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

See also these Frigyes Karinthy stories, they're amazing.
posted by bertrandom at 11:41 AM on September 28, 2008

I linked to this once before, at the old (faster) MEK site. Kosztolányi really deserves to be better known abroad; Esti Kornél should be as familiar as Nick Adams. He's generally not bursting with sunny joie-de-vivre, but certainly not all his stories are as grim as Fürdés is. There are really good English translations of his novels, among which I think I most enjoy Pacsirta (Skylark).
posted by Wolfdog at 12:57 PM on September 28, 2008

Thank you thank you!

Obligatory magyar népmesék YouTube link for people who prefer their literature in cartoon form.
posted by Michael Roberts at 1:28 PM on September 28, 2008

Thank you too Michael Roberts. It never fails to amaze me what is available on Youtube. Amazing.
posted by vac2003 at 2:44 PM on September 28, 2008

I've read a number of these before. I can't wait to read more. Most of the Hungarian authors that I've read deserve a much greater audience.

I especially like this one. It's brutal wrenching and exceptionally well written.
posted by pwicks at 9:38 AM on September 29, 2008

Yay! new airplane reading...uploading these to my Kindle right now! Thanks for the link.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 10:03 AM on September 29, 2008

I've been married to a Hungarian nearly twenty years and, to my regret, I haven't read any of these. I manfully made it through a third of Kõszivü ember fiai once, but despite having picked up a lot of Hungarian from the kids, my skillz weren't quite up to it, and it fell by the wayside.

But in English, it all goes so much faster!

So this is really quite a nice find.
posted by Michael Roberts at 6:31 PM on September 29, 2008

Freaky how all these street names have written short stories...

I've made it to #16, pwicks. Jesus.
posted by Michael Roberts at 6:14 PM on October 1, 2008