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They Were Counted (The Transylvania Trilogy #1)

4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 · rating details · 83 ratings · 18 reviews

Paints an unrivalled portrait of the vanished world of pre-1914 Hungary, as seen through the eyes of two young aristocratic Transylvanian cousins.

Paperback, 624 pages

Published January 1st 1999 by Arcadia Books (first published 1934)

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Jan 19, 2013 Kalliope rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-english, international-lit, historical-fiction, austro-hungary, eastern-europe

This is review of the Transylvania Trilogy, also known as The Writing of the Wall, and I am posting this in each volume. The trilogy is composed of:

They Were Counted
They Were Found Wanting
They Were Divided.

These titles are taken from the Book of Daniel, from the Belshazzar’s Feast, when a hand appeared and wrote on the wall:

God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; your kingdom is divided and given to your enemies....more

like 13 likes · see review

Al Bità Any work which contributes to otherwise usually unavailable historical events through references to the wider cultural, political and social pressures...more Any work which contributes to otherwise usually unavailable historical events through references to the wider cultural, political and social pressures and influences will always be welcome, since they expand on the more traditional reports. This trilogy sounds perfect in this regard.

One of my perversities, however, is to be as aware as much as possible of these same influences on the writer. The fact that the author is writing this during the Second World War seems significant. When this is combined with the 'religious' prophetic link to the Book of Daniel, my suspicions are roused. I more or less always 'interpret' so-called prophetic utterances in religious texts as having been written after the event — in which case, one could generally argue that after any significant defeat a 'survivor' can, by picking up certain sidelined events 'show' that this was because the losers had been weighed, found wanting, and subject to division of the spoils. In this way, hindsight can always be made to seem 100% accurate...

I suppose what I am really asking is: does the fact that these 'links' were not understood really mean that they should have been, or that they were rendered 'invisible' when everything seemed to be going alright? If there had been people around who did see the writing on the wall, would they have been in a position to actually do something to alter the situation? Would they have been listened to?

Is Banffy, writing during WWII about the lead up to WWI, also implying that the Germans were also blind to the 'writing on the wall'? Does his insight apply also to today (or indeed to any time in history) when specific consequences could not be, or were unable to be, foreseen? These questions might seem extraneous to the work in question, but it does seem that taking up this position is problematic historically: e.g. do those who today 'prophesy' that the end times are near, and that we should heed their paranoid warnings before it is too late, speak the truth? Is disregarding them an example of being blind to the writing on the wall? What about those pushing for action on Climate Change? Etc.

Whatever the answers (if any) to these questions, I feel no doubt, from your review, that these three books could very well get some of us to start thinking on these things!

Thanks for a great review, Kalliope!(less)
Nov 24, 2012 09:37am

Kalliope Al wrote: "Any work which contributes to otherwise usually unavailable historical events through references to the wider cultural, political and socia...more
Nov 24, 2012 12:43pm

Steve aka Sckenda This sounds perfect for me, Kalliope. Thank you for bringing this book to my attention. I will order it.
May 07, 2013 03:55pm

Jan 18, 2013 Cameling rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Life in early 1900s Hungary and Romania are dramatically portrayed through the lives of 2 cousins, Balint Abady and Laszlo Gyeroffy. While born to aristocracy, Balint is compassionate, somewhat naive and finds himself in a doomed relationship with a married woman. Laszlo is musically gifted and a tortured soul. Written with dazzling detail, it took me a while to get through all names and descriptions of characters in the first chapter. The dazzling balls, shooting parties, and elaborate dinners...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Liviu rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mainstream, read_2011

The best description of the novel and of the trilogy so far at least is Gone with the Wind of the Hungarian Empire; this description of an unjust and oppressive world on the brink of being swept away from history, but you still cannot stop but turn the pages, empathize with Balint Abady and his pathetic tries to improve things (laughed at both by his peers and by the representatives of the oppressed for different reasons of course) or with his love for the unhappily married Adrienne, while follo...more

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Mar 29, 2011 Stine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: austria-hungary, european-fiction, books-2011

I was so happy, when I started reading this book and in the most important - to me - aspect it didn't fail: it gives a vivid account of Austria-Hungary at the turn of the century. With the elite arguing among themselves, oblivious to the events on the big European scene. It's such a pivotal period in European history; the events leading up to 1. world war, which - broadly - re-defined the national borders as they are today.
However, I was less impressed with Banffy's creation of characters. Bali...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Lynn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Banffy is sometimes referred to as the Hungarian Tolstoy. Having recently reread War and Peace, I can see the similarities, and the differences as well. Banffy covers similar ground as the aristocratic families discuss politics while partaking in duels, love affairs, drinking, gambling and the betterment of the peasants they paternalistically care for under the mantle of noblesse oblige. Unlike Tolstoy, Banffy relates historical events unfolding inexorably towards the nightmare of World War I wi...more

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Dec 23, 2011 Chuck LoPresti rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'll never forget this book. Absolutely engaging read - yet the story is a bit uneven and obvious at points. There's a bit of a lack of elegance in the translation but the prose is still delightful and afterall - if it hasn't been translated from Hungarian by Szirtes - it's only going to be an approximation of the original. More like Stendhal than Proust this complex courtly tale is more interpersonal than introspective and historical than reflective. Where Proust was concerned with how and even...more I'll never forget this book. Absolutely engaging read - yet the story is a bit uneven and obvious at points. There's a bit of a lack of elegance in the translation but the prose is still delightful and afterall - if it hasn't been translated from Hungarian by Szirtes - it's only going to be an approximation of the original. More like Stendhal than Proust this complex courtly tale is more interpersonal than introspective and historical than reflective. Where Proust was concerned with how and even why we write and think - Banffy, like Stendhal, is more focused on what will remain of the reality of such interactions after the participants are passed. In fact - there's an event in the book that makes this quite clear as the directions of the long deceased former family head are recorded, read and lived by his offspring - justifying the efforts to live a dignified and important life. No longer will I think of German expressionist film when I think of Transylvania - although I must admit that when the carriages move in the text they do so in an a hitchy Svankmajer-like animation and there's sort of a rosin-hungry high-pitched violin warble in the back of my mind. Maybe that will go away when I read on in the trilogy - which I will for certain. Like Proust - there's times when I wanted to reach into the book and inflict horrible evils on the characters and when the climax comes in the form of sensual relation instead of reading about Szabo or Udzy being boiled in oil - I was a bit angry - but this IS just the first book of the trilogy and it's clear that Banffy's courtly restraint has little taste for Ledig-like bloodletting. What most will take away from this book is a greater understanding of the complexity of Hungarian cultural history - Hungary at times seems like Poland in that the currents of its neighbors seems to steer the national reality rather than any internal force. Banffy's knowledge of history and political conditions are clearly informed by his lofty position in society. I told my Hungarian pal I was reading this and he promptly informed me that the Banffy family "nearly owned everything" in Hungary. Seems to be the case because Banffy essentially drags out his inventory of Hungarian knowledge with the detailed view of an auctioneer estimating his lots. At times it seems that his "understanding" of ethnic minorities in Hungary seems pandering and offered as the apology of a person who never felt the pangs of poverty and alienation of those he's trying to "save" - but that in fact is probably the only honest view a person of Banffy's stature could have. If you want to travel in text form to the courts of late 19th-C Transylvania - you'll find yourself very comfortable riding in the coach of Banffy's impressive work. (less)

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Dec 09, 2010 Elijah Kinch Spector rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Are 5 stars correct, or fair? I'm not sure. But I know that I was extremely into this book, and that having finished it not five minutes ago, it feels right. So there we are. It may be a bad idea, however, to give this a perfect review for the same reason that it often is to do the same for the first volume of a fantasy series -- it's not the whole story. To see a real review, you might be better served to read the multitudinous status updates that I did while reading the book, they'll show how...more Are 5 stars correct, or fair? I'm not sure. But I know that I was extremely into this book, and that having finished it not five minutes ago, it feels right. So there we are. It may be a bad idea, however, to give this a perfect review for the same reason that it often is to do the same for the first volume of a fantasy series -- it's not the whole story. To see a real review, you might be better served to read the multitudinous status updates that I did while reading the book, they'll show how it affected me as I went.

Ever since I saw this http://neglectedbooks.com/?p=332 I had been dying to read Bánffy's Transylvanian Trilogy. I love me a big epic, and once I'd learned to really appreciate War and Peace I was even more interested in something like this. Then, suddenly, this pretty new edition of this first book in the trilogy stopped being available. Anywhere. (Anywhere outside of England, at least.) I looked all over the damn place, and could only find them for $40 or more (check Amazon, it ranges from about that to $115 or some shit). I don't know how a 2009 edition went out of print so quickly, but it did. So, I snapped up the on $15 one I found on Amazon right quick and here we are.

It was not until I held the book in my hands that I saw a quote about it being "[a] wonderful swash-buckling novel full of duels." This made me even more excited, so let me point out that that quote is absolutely a misnomer. There are a total of two challenges issued in this near 600 pages, and both of them lead to anticlimactic ends. That, however, was not really what I'd wanted from the book in the first place, so I'm not complaining.

They Were Counted is largely caught up with two things that Bánffy knew a great deal about: sex and politics. There is a whole hell of a lot more, but it boils down to essentially those two things, and the differences between them in perception and in reality (sex is healthy but people say it's terrible/politics are self-serving but people say they're for the greater good). Through these, and many other smaller points that pop up, Bánffy makes his book do what all good writing should do -- get to a great number of universal points that we can all recognize but do not expect to come across. I couldn't have less in common with Transylvanian nobility from the turn of the 20th century, but I was able to identify with nearly every character in this novel at some point or another.

Which brings me to an important point: one of the best things Bánffy does is really get into every single head that he can and show us why the person is that way. A domineering step-mother, a rake, a coquette: the sorts of characters that are usually there to be "bad" are all human beings, and no one is really "the bad guy" at all. (Well... except one guy, who I hope will get his in a later part of the trilogy.) This is especially strong in his writing of female characters, I think, who so often are only there to spur along the male leads, or if they are fully-fledged they must be saintly and pure. The only of Bánffy's characters who is "virginal" is, in fact, a mother, and only comes across that way due to horrible circumstances.

Bánffy's willingness to get into most people's heads is also useful in that he's showing us a window into a cultural moment that we, as English speakers, know almost nothing about. (His novel is considered a CLASSIC in Hungarian, but we only have the one translation, which is good, by the way, even if the copy-editing does not match it. Not by a long shot.) Transylvania is a fascinating place (all we think is Dracula, because we're idiots), and the lives of the Hungarian nobles there are both captivating and ridiculous at the same time. Bánffy makes no secret of his desire to show the ridiculous excesses and disconnectedness of his subjects, and so we often find ourselves entirely drawn into the dramas of these nobles -- only to be wrenched away from it by a glimmer of the hardships that the normal, mostly Romanian folks, are going through. It's masterfully done, and I cannot wait to see how it pays off by the end of the trilogy.

There is so much more to say, but I would suggest, again, a look at my status updates because I cannot begin to remember it all. They Were Counted is a beautiful book that sweeps one up into its settings and characters so totally that even I, who is usually so much about adventures, didn't even notice when long stretches would go by in which little actually happened. It never felt slow to me, and it never felt like the book was turning its wheels, it's only when I look back that I realize that, in total, there are no great big events throughout most of the novel. It certainly deserves to be a classic in our language just as much as it does in Hungarian (if not moreso, for the unfamiliar world it lets us view) and I would urge anyone with an eye for these old-fashioned sorts of novels (but with, in some places, a more modern sensibility, due to the times in which Bánffy wrote) to give it a read, if you can find a damn copy!(less)

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Jul 27, 2012 Luis rated it 5 of 5 stars

I suppose the greatest question one can ask after finishing the first of a trilogy, is do i want to read the others? and the answer in the case of 'They Were Counted is a resounding yes! To any fan of Bourgeois central european writing, This really is a must read. it has everything one would want, incredibly rich luxurious writing, a raft of interesting, lovable and grotesque characters, beautiful locations, dashing gentlemen and sensual ladies. The host of sub-plots is exhaustive and always ent...more

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Apr 29, 2008 Debra rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is the first in the Trilogy Banffy wrote about his native Transylvania, the 'land across the forest' so different from the Dracula legends. It is a profound and wonderful work that follows the character of Balint as he reckons with the changes in city (Budapest) and countryside in Hungary and Transylvania at the turn of the last century. It has much in common with Proust's Remembrances, with Musil's Man Without Qualities and with Tolstoy's writings about the peasants of Russia. The fir...more

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Sep 12, 2010 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: austria, around-the-world, historical-fiction, classics, politics

Apparently this book is a classic of Hungarian literature, set in the first decade of the 20th century. One of the main characters is a member of the Parliament in Budapest, and the other is his cousin, who ends up being more or less by society. However, *I* loved it for the perspective it provided of the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, since most of what I'm familiar with focuses on the Austrian side of things. In addition to this, there were politics, courtly (and non-courtly) love, plenty...more

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Dec 05, 2010 Jonathan yates rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book rules, i'm so excited to read the next one, it's all about loving the ladies and duels and drinking and balls and making out in the woods
and it's also a really well done portrait of a failing culture that really captures
a feeling and a culture that is really important to all of modern history....
awesome

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Feb 21, 2011 Hudson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Terrific... Squarely occupies a space between Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, for Transylvania and Hungary before World War I.

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Jan 08, 2009 Ági rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-hungarian, fiction, social-commentary

It's an amazing historical narrative/documentary; the title is an allusion to the book of Daniel.

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Jun 30, 2011 Heather Roberts marked it as to-read

started on it and waiting for my copy to come. gor-geous.

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Apr 15, 2013 Yepitsken marked it as to-read

Shelves: to_read_nation

to_read_nation

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Oct 03, 2011 Christopher rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: travel

This 600-pager reminded me a lot of The Fountainhead. I think it probably has to do with the few scenes depicting nature as a place of truth, beauty and strength.

I haven't read Tolstoy, so I can't vouch for Banffy's similarity to him, but I enjoyed the portrayal of society life in the early 20th in Transylvania and other places I've wandered once or twice.

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Aug 09, 2011 !Tæmbuŝu marked it as to-read

Shelves: modern-classics, hungary, ebook-available

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Reviewed by The Guardian

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Sep 17, 2012 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I absolutely LOVED this book.

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Shelves: the-sublime-past

May 15, 2013 Andrei Caramitru marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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May 10, 2013 Ema marked it as to-find

Recommended to Ema by: Kalliope

Shelves: hungarian

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Shelves: to-buy-and-read-this-year

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They Were Counted (The Transylvania Trilogy #1)

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