Modern Classics from Hungary [antikvár]

Introduction Hungarian copyright law has been recently brought into line with EU regulations, extending the period of protection to 70 years. The change affects the work of many of the finest Hungarian writers of the twentieth century. The present collection offers an introduction to 19 of these authors, most of them now Hungarian classics but some less weU-known and waiting to be rediscovered. The collection offers a great deal of variety. There are works by Miklós Bánffy, Lajos Zilahy and Zsolt Harsányi, very popular novels of epic proportions with passionate love affairs set against the tumultuous background of Hungary's history. The novels of Zsigmond Móricz and László Németh are landmarks of reaUstic writing which revived Himgarian fiction by introducing new themes. There are several writers with highly individual styles and themes, who are difficult to categorize: Gyula Krúdy, the master of dreams, Sándor Márai, obsessed with the disintegration of his social class, and Milán Füst, an outstanding poet and a writer of wise yet bitter prose. There is the finest woman writer of the early twentieth century, Margit Kaffka, the representative of the 'new woman' and a point of reference for many distinguished contemporary writers. Frigyes Karinthy and Antal Szerb chronicle sombre individual fates with an aU-encompassing and compassionate sense of humour, while Áron Tamási and Ferenc Móra were ever-popular writers of tales amd fables for both yoimg and old. Two of Hungary's greatest poets are included: the heroic Miklós Radnóti and the tragic Attüa József, as well as two powerful poets less known in the West but well worth discovering: the reflective yet realist Lőrinc Szabó, a poet of eternal restlessness and revolt, and Jenő Dsida, a divine poet of subtle music. Last but not least there are two classic Himgarian poets who are also highly accomplished novelists: Mihály Babits and Dezső Kosztolányi. At the threshold of the new millennium a glance back at the Hungarian authors of the early twentieth century provides not only a cathartic Uterary experience but also an essential insight into European and, indeed, universal values. © igriiT'-rTi r ¦