László Passuth (Budapest July 15, 1900 - Balatonfüred, June 19, 1979) was Hungarian and a prolific author of historical fiction and translator.
He graduated with a law degree from the University of Szeged. From 1919 to 1950 he worked mainly as a bank clerk and then, until his retirement, in a government office for translation. His first attempts as a writer appeared in the 1920s in several magazines. Passuth served as the main secretary of the Hungarian PEN Club from 1945–60, although he was expelled in 1948 from the Hungarian Writers’ Union in 1948 under the Stalinist take-over.
His first novel, Eurasia, published in 1937, was followed by a number of historical novels; they showed sophisticated style and attention to precise historical detail. In 1939, he published The Rain God Weeps over Mexico (Eng. Title, Tlaloc Weeps for Mexico), a novel about Cortez and the conquest of Mexico; it was his first work to attract international attention; it was translated into French, German, Spanish, and English. Among his some 40 novels are also Joan of Naples (1940), based on the life of the medieval queen, Joan I, and Madrigal (1968), a novel around the life of composer Carlo Gesualdo.
Entertaining, engaging and informative. The book tells the story of the life of Joanna I of Naples. It balances well details of her personal life, childhood, ruling years, wars, and politics. It offers an exciting account of the murder of Joanna's Hungarian husband, prince Andrew, and the ensuing war between Hungary and the Kingdom of Naples, as well as the following suit in the Papal court. Well worth a reading if you are interested in history, Europe, Italy, Hungary, the medieval times, or politics. The families and figures who are the cast of the novel were some of the most influential rulers, personalities, and artists of the Europan middle ages, and their work shaped much of the later history of Europe.
Nehéz olvasmány volt. Gondolom Passuth a régi korok nyelvét idézte és ezért volt sok helyen túl részletes és fennkölt hangvételű. Mindenesetre így érdemes történelmet tanulni. Bátran ajánlom mindenkinek akit érdekel a történelem általában, vagy a középkor és Nápoly történetének eme szelete.