Oliver VII

Oliver VII

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3.77 of 5 stars 3.77  ·  rating details  ·  57 ratings  ·  6 reviews
A witty reworking of one of the most interesting questions of existentialism, this is a playful work of comic philosophy
Paperback, 176 pages
Published January 1st 2007 by Pushkin Press (first published 1943)
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Tony
Szerb, Antal. OLIVER VII. (1942; this ed. 2007). ***. Szerb was an Hungarian novelist who published most of his books during the 1930s and 1940s. He was ultimately executed in a Nazi prison camp in 1945 for being a Jew by descent, although he was a practicing Catholic. He turned down several offers that could have led to his freedom, but refused them because he did not want to leave his friends and relatives in the camp without him. He is one of the few Hungarians who still have books in print i...more
Monica Carter
Hungary's literary icon, Antal Szerb, was an figure that rose to well-respected status quickly and whose life ended too early. A Jew who died in a concentration camp in 1945, his last work, Oliver VII(1942), offers none of the dark and horrific circumstances that Hungarians Jews witnessed and withstood. The wittiness of Szerb has been repeatedly compared to Luis Pirandello, the Italian playwright, but there is much more to Szerb than mere mimicry. Oliver VII is a novel, Szerb's lightest by far,...more
Laura
A lovely little conspiracy novel with hilariously absurd characters and plot points, mostly about political satire. It might be the English translation, but somehow the language felt much less witty and Szerb-ish than I expected. I think I'll have to try the German translation next.
Ginny
Pretty funny, tour de force beginning. Loses steam a bit, but worth fun.
Annie
exactly as it should be
Joanna
May 18, 2013 Joanna marked it as to-read
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May 12, 2013 Claire marked it as to-read
George Gale
Apr 26, 2013 George Gale is currently reading it
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Ian
Mar 03, 2013 Ian marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
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John
Feb 02, 2013 John marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
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Diyar
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Oliver VII (Paperback)
Oliver VII (Novelty Book)
VII. Olivér (Hardcover)
5441368
Szerb was born in 1901 to assimilated Jewish parents in Budapest, but baptized Catholic. He studied Hungarian, German and later English, obtaining a doctorate in 1924. From 1924 to 1929 he lived in France and Italy, also spending a year in London, England.
As a student he published essays on Georg Trakl and Stefan George, and quickly established a formidable reputation as a scholar, writing erudite...more
More about Antal Szerb...
Journey by Moonlight The Pendragon Legend The Queen's Necklace Szerelem a palackban Budapesti kalauz Marslakók számára

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