Hungarian Literature Club discussion
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What I'm Reading
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The Hungarians: A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat was originally written in German, and it's fuzzy and inaccessible, as many translations from German seem to be. I'm also reading City of God, which seems a little heavy, for some reason.
Desperate, I've requested four books from the library, none of them Hungarian, unfortunately:
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
A True Novel
My Brilliant Friend
Kristin Lavransdatter
I'll see how all four of them start.
I just thought I'd share.
Harry wrote: "Well, friends, I'm having another reading crisis. It's a first world problem, I know, but it's real, especially with the holidays approaching in my country; and the lack of emotive grey skies (oh r..."ONE HUGE VOTE FOR KRISTIN LAVRANSDATTER, especially if it's Tiina Nunnally's translation. The other one doesn't do justice to the original.
Make it the first one and see. It's beautifully written, and it can surprise you even on the 800th page.
Tristram Shandy is also fine, but not half as good as Kristin Lavransdatter to my taste. But then I don't like this kind of bitter comedy very much. Books like Tristram Shandy, in which the narrator laughs at everyone as if from above. It's fine with its colloquial style, but not my favourite. When it comes to comedy, I prefer narrators laughing "with" us, not "at" us. Like in The Master and Margarita.
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Kristin does indeed look interesting, but I decided that the Japanese book, A True Novel, was more what the doctor ordered for me at this point in time. I read a book by Mizumura Minae before and was satisfied by it, so I'll try the next book of hers.
Funny, Master and Margarita was a possibility as well (and it still is).
All of these books are quite long. I'm afraid it may take me a while to get back to Hungary, but I think I'll slip Abigail into the list, toward the top.
Harry wrote: "You're right about Tristram. I chuckled when I read the first few pages, but I'm not sure I want a cover to cover chuckle. Kristin does indeed look interesting, but I decided that the Japanese bo..."
Have fun. :)))
Harry wrote: "And Kristin Lavransdatter it is."You'll love it! Did you manage to get the new translation by Nunnally?
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Best wishes!
Harry wrote: "Yes. I'm enjoying it. Best wishes!"
The same to you. :) I'm reading Les Misérables for the third time. :)
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I keep thinking of how to cast the film version. Probably Elle Fanning would be best as Kristen, but who should play Erland and Simon?
Harry wrote: "Well, I'm about 800/1100ths through Kristin Lavransdatter. My absorption waxes and wanes, but I'm definitely going to stick it through. I keep thinking of how to cast the film version. Probably E..."
I've no idea about the actors, but I trust you'll prefer the rest. :) That book is just like that: sometimes the plot seems to stagnate, but you can always be sure something important is going on in the background, something you don't even suspect until it leaps into your face. I liked that a lot.
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Harry wrote: "Abigail has been listed as "in process" at my school library for months. I finally got the staff to investigate, and it's been in the stacks the whole time. Happy day! I'm diving in."yay! happy reading! :)
Harry wrote: "Abigail has been listed as "in process" at my school library for months. I finally got the staff to investigate, and it's been in the stacks the whole time. Happy day! I'm diving in.":)))
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Harry wrote: "I also found Skylark by Dezső Kosztolányi. Have any of you read it? (Perhaps someone mentioned it above, but I can't recall.)"Yes, and I'm planning to reread it soon, because it's been assigned to be read for the A-levels this year.
Harry wrote: "I see that Stephen recommended Skylark earlier. Maybe that's why I had my library order it, but I can't remember."Yes :). Happy reading for Abigail!
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I wish you all well and hope you are not too badly affected by the new virus wave.
Harry wrote: "I also found Skylark by Dezső Kosztolányi. Have any of you read it? (Perhaps someone mentioned it above, but I can't recall.)"Hope you enjoy it. I've been looking for more of his work in translation but they're quiet hard to find 2nd hand at a decent price.
Stephen wrote: "Hope you enjoy it. I've been looking for more of his work in translation but they're quiet hard to find 2nd hand at a decent price."I'll be interested in how good the translation is. Kosztolányi was a poet, and wrote novels like poetry. I don't mean rhymes and rhythm, I mean the choice of words. There is not one superfluous word for hundreds of pages, all of them are needed for the meaning. How is it ever possible to translate that? I guess it is, but how?
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Timár_Krisztina wrote: "Stephen wrote: "Hope you enjoy it. I've been looking for more of his work in translation but they're quiet hard to find 2nd hand at a decent price."I'll be interested in how good the translation ..."
waaahaaa, Kosztolányi in translation! I'm sorry to say but he deserves every mistake they made, he simply murdered Alice (in Wonderland), and that's something I can never forgive :/ (I know this is not nice, sorry, it's been years since I first realised this, but I still can't get over what he did to that wonderful book. We're not friends with poor Didé :))
I'm not keen on what Arany J. did to a Mid Summer Night's Dream but I forgive him.
Stephen wrote: "I'm not keen on what Arany J. did to a Mid Summer Night's Dream but I forgive him."That's very kind of you :)
blueisthenewpink wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I'm not keen on what Arany J. did to a Mid Summer Night's Dream but I forgive him."That's very kind of you :)"
I admit to not having read it in English, least of all in translation.
Just out of curiosity why are you reading Alice for a second time if Dezső's translation is so bad?
blueisthenewpink wrote: "waaahaaa, Kosztolányi in translation! I'm sorry to say but he deserves every mistake they made, he simply murdered Alice (in Wonderland), and that's something I can never forgive :/ (I know this is not nice, sorry, it's been years since I first realised this, but I still can't get over what he did to that wonderful book. We're not friends with poor Didé :))"I've only heard of that translation, but I can understand you. :)
I've just reread Skylark. It took me two hours and a half: much less time than I'd thought. It's even bleaker and more unfair than I remembered, but still a wonderful piece of art, and a great training for any reader to find a meaning to their life.
Stephen wrote: "blueisthenewpink wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I'm not keen on what Arany J. did to a Mid Summer Night's Dream but I forgive him."That's very kind of you :)"
I admit to not having read it in English, ..."
This is not his translation but a new one by the Varró-siblings. It is absolutely phenomenal, I can only recommend it. I'm reading it to my kids for a second time now, I've also read it in English. Many Hungarians don't like the story because they know the really awful translation only. A very good example is the Mock Turtle's story, pages of puns about the subjects and K. just killed it. Maybe he didn't understand it but I can't even see the effort. He just puts a plain subject there, omitting all of the jokes.
I have to admit I don't like his poems either (Team Ady here :)) but his prose Kornél Esti is really good.
Timár_Krisztina wrote: "blueisthenewpink wrote: "waaahaaa, Kosztolányi in translation! I'm sorry to say but he deserves every mistake they made, he simply murdered Alice (in Wonderland), and that's something I can never f...":) the new translation is really good, I can recommend that one.
blueisthenewpink wrote: "Stephen wrote: "blueisthenewpink wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I'm not keen on what Arany J. did to a Mid Summer Night's Dream but I forgive him."That's very kind of you :)"
I admit to not having read..."
I am one of those Hungarians who absolutely hated Alice because of the horrible translation.
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I hope you are all doing well!
Harry wrote: "I'm going to try Celestial Harmonies again, this time reading the second part first, as many of you suggested. I hope you are all doing well!"
Good luck! :)
I'm doing quite well, could do without this heat, but otherwise fine.
I'm reading Faludy's "My Happy Days in Hell", also available in English, just for you to know. :)
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Glad you're doing well. :)
Hello everyone! I’m half way through Géza Gárdonyi’s “Ida Regénye,” which would translate to something like “Ida’s Diary.” I’m not actually sure if there is a translation but I’m really enjoying it so far.
Happy Days In Hell is a book which it is necessary to read imo. I’m on Elias Canetti & Gregor von Rezzori. A scoundrel but he (and this translator) can write.
Neither of whom are Hungarian but there’s a world of books.
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BTW, in addition to Celestial Harmonies, I have also been flipping through Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, The End of Civilization and am wondering if any of you have heard of it and what you think of it.
Never heard of it but Celestial H I found a bit beyond me.
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Harry wrote: ""Happy Days in Hell"? I hope it refers only to the heat!"It doesn't. :) It's about life in Hungary and the emigration in the 1940s and '50s. Not a very funny period. The happiness is within the way he relates all that could happen to a happy-go-lucky Hungarian man at the time of war and dictatorship. It's like the narrative of a trickster. I like tricksters.
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I have ordered Midst the Wild Carpathians by Mór Jókai from my library, which should tide me over until I can read My Happy Days In Hell.
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I checked and it doesn't look like there's a translation of Ida's Diary yet. Alas. :(
Harry wrote: "Well, it is with chagrin and a heavy heart that I must tell you that I am again giving up on Celestial Harmonies. I feel I am letting you down, but it is just not for me. I have ordered [book:Mid..."
I can fully understand.
Harry wrote: "Well, it is with chagrin and a heavy heart that I must tell you that I am again giving up on Celestial Harmonies. I feel I am letting you down, but it is just not for me. I have ordered [book:Mid..."
Good gracious, I must have read that book by Jókai more than twenty-five years ago. Too much even to think of.
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The political background of the book was a bit mysterious to me and I feel it might have prevented me from enjoying it even more than I did (plus, I was a bit distracted while reading it). However, rather than allow myself to feel even slightly dissatisfied before moving on to something else, I'm going to re-read it immediately.
One way I may be giving myself trouble is by expecting every scene and every character to have a direct relationship with everything else. For example, the first chapter, "A Hunt in the Year 1666," seems extraneous to me, because only one of its characters appears elsewhere in the book. Also, it's said to take place four years after the main action, so my natural assumption is that the plot of the main body will build toward the hunting scene. Of course, it doesn't....
....I guess I really don't know what that first chapter is doing there. It doesn't even take place in Transylvania, although the subject comes up. Does it merely introduce the theme, rather than introduce character or setting?
Hungarian Literature Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Hungarian Nabob (other topics)The Corsair King (other topics)
The Corsair King (other topics)
The Slaves of the Padishah (other topics)
Companion in Exile: Notes for an Autobiography (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Harry Mathews (other topics)Mór Jókai (other topics)
Mór Jókai (other topics)
József Eötvös (other topics)
Walker Percy (other topics)
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...though when I read Stephen's comment, my first thought was of Viktoria Freie, from Closely Watched Trains."
Oh, I can't help it, whenever comes to Hungary, he's my first thought. The little Trump of Hungary though at least he can communicate in proper, intelligible sentences (which only makes things worse).