The Parasite

by Ferenc Barnás, Paul Olchváry (Translation)

Marked by powerful and evocative prose, Ferenc Barnás’s novel tells the fascinating story of a young man’s journey through his strange obsessions towards possible recovery. The unnamed narrator is the parasite, feeding off others’ ailments, but he is also a host who attracts people with the most peculiar manias. He confesses, almost amiably, his decadent attraction as a young adolescent to illnesses and hospitals. The real descent into his private, hallucinatory hell begins after his first sexual encounter; he becomes a compulsive masturbator, and then a compulsive fornicator. But to his horror, he realizes that casual sex is not casual at all for him—each one-night stand results in insane jealousy: he can neither abstain nor help imagine previous lovers hovering over him every time he makes love to a woman.
 
When he gets to know a woman referred to as L., he thinks his demons may have finally subsided. But when he hears of her past, the jealousy returns. He seeks relief through writing—by weaving an imagined tale of L.’s amorous adventures. What will he do with this strange manuscript, and can it bring him healing?

A breathtaking blend of Dostoevskian visions, episodes of madness, and intellectual fervor, all delivered in precise, lucid prose, The Parasite is a novel that one cannot escape.
 

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Barnás Ferenc 1959-ben született Debrecenben. Középiskolai tanulmányait a Szentendrei Ferences Gimnáziumban végezte. 1978 és 1982 között fizikai munkás. 1982 és 1988 között egyetemi tanulmányokat folytatott Debrecenben, Budapesten és Münchenben, illetve magánúton zenét tanult. 1983 és 2000 között évente 3-4 hónapot utcazenészként fuvolázott Németországban, Svájcban, Angliában, Franciaországban, Olaszországban és Ausztriában. 1988-ban végzett az ELTE magyar nyelv és irodalom, illetve esztétika szakán. 1991-ben doktori fokozatot szerzett ugyanott, disszertációja címe Hermann Hesse világképe. 1988 és 1994 között budapesti művészeti középiskolákban tanított irodalmat és esztétikát. 1990 és 1992 között az ELTE Művelődéstörténeti Tanszékén tanított zeneelméletet. 1994 és 2000 között szabadfoglalkozású író. 2000 óta múzeumi dolgozó.
Művei

Az élősködő (regény, 1997)
Bagatell (regény, 2000)
A kilencedik (regény, 2006)
Másik halál (regény, 2012)




Ferenc Barnás was born in 1959 in Debrecen, Hungary. From 1982 until 1988 he takes university courses in Debrecen, Budapest, and München. In 1988 he graduates from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) with degrees in Hungarian language/literature and Aesthetics. In 1991 he earns his doctoral degree at ELTE, with a dissertation entitled Hermann Hesse világképe (The World View of Hermann Hesse). From 1988 until 1994 he teaches literature, philosophy and aesthetics in secondary schools for the arts in Budapest. From 1990 until 1992 he works as an instructor of music aesthetics at the Department of Cultural History, ELTE. From 1994 until 2000 lives as a freelance writer. From 2000 to present works at Ernst Museum in Budapest.

Works

Novels
Az élősködő (The Parasite)
Bagatell (Bagatelle)
A kilencedik (The Ninth)
Másik halál (Another Death)

Awards

2013: AEGON Prize
2006: Tibor Déry Prize
2001: Sándor Márai Prize

Reviews

[The Artisan Geek]

28/2/20
Found this one during one of my book scavenging trips through London! :D

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[Jed Joyce · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Bad writing. Worse than Céline. Plus pages 109-124 were missing from a brand new hardcover edition! My first DNF in over a decade. Great cover, though.