Hungarian Authors

Lately I've had a strong desire to travel to Budapest, and what better way to satisfy the wait than with Hungarian authors? Any recommendations? Preferably of a weird, uncanny, or historical/scientific nonfiction slant.

[Vice]

Quote Originally Posted by Nirvana In Karma

Lately I've had a strong desire to travel to Budapest, and what better way to satisfy the wait than with Hungarian authors? Any recommendations? Preferably of a weird, uncanny, or historical/scientific nonfiction slant.

I would suggest Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb or Satantango by László Krasznahorkai.

[MadsPLP]

Vice is right. Journey by Moonlight was a highlight for me in the end of 2014.

Other than that, I'd strongly suggest anything by Péter Nádas (especially A Book of Memories, which is long, but absolutely magnificent; I don't know if there is much local flavour, though, as it rests somewhere between a writer like Jens Peter Jacobsen, a writer like Proust, and the novel of ideas as exemplified by Musil (though much more accessible) or Péter Esterházy. Sándor Márai or Magda Szabó - whose The Door was recently translated - would be of interest as well.

I can't lay claim to being an expert in Hungarian literature, but these are definitely major writers in world literature.

[rhysaurus]

I don't have any nonfiction recommendations, but the short novel Capillaria by Frigyes Karinthy is one of my favourite weird works.

Also, I can't recommend the stories of Géza Csáth highly enough, if you aren't already familiar with them.

Hungary was the first country I travelled around, when I began knocking around the continent a bit, so I have a particular fondness for it, and for its literature.

Quote Originally Posted by rhysaurus

I don't have any nonfiction recommendations, but the short novel Capillaria by Frigyes Karinthy is one of my favourite weird works. Also, I can't recommend the stories of Géza Csáth highly enough, if you aren't already familiar with them. Hungary was the first country I travelled around, when I began knocking around the continent a bit, so I have a particular fondness for it, and for its literature.

I've heard of Csath but forgot he was Hungarian. Thank you for the Karinthy recommendation as well.