Ocean at the Window [antikvár]

Preface This anthology of short works of poetry and prose joins the increasing but still insufficient number of translations that attempt to acquaint general readers in the English-speaking world with significant aspects of Hungarian literature. The present volume, which contains works by authors who now reside in Hungary, seeks to deepen the nonspecialist's knowledge of the literature appearing after World War II, not by offering an overview through the contributions of numerous authors, but by giving most attention to the works of ten major figures chosen from among the many who established their place duringthe first two decades after 1945 and by presenting a few works of fourteen writers selected from those who first published in book form between 1965 and 1975. More space is devoted to prose works than to poems, so that readers can note some of the recent experiments in prose fiction and the sharp growth in treatises on literature, developments that deserve much more attention in English translation than they have received to the present. Almost all the selections are complete; the only excerpts are taken from two long poems by Ferenc Juhász and a long poem by László Nagy, from three literary treatises, and from the interviews. It was difficult to choose authors from a period so torn by historical events and tested by radical social changes, and so rich in literary activity—and particularly difficult to select the ten major figures whose work would appear in Part One. To give unity to this section and, at the same time, to draw attention to some significant trends, I used specific guidelines in making my decisions. For example, I did not consider authors whose lifework could not be represented XV