Corvina’s best-selling Hungarian classics are available in bookshops around the country. For more information, visit www.corvinakiado.hu.
Ferenc Molnár: The Paul Street Boys
Over the years, Ferenc Molnár’s The Paul Street Boys (1907), has gained him much popularity amongst the young people of Budapest because of its underlying themes of solidarity and self-sacrifice. Translated into English in 1927, the novel is about two rival gangs of young boys in Budapest fighting a war for a piece of land – a derelict building site which to them is a cherished symbol of freedom. The themes and conflicts that arise are still seen today and are what make The Paul Street Boys a timeless classic.
Géza Gárdonyi: Eclipse of the Crescent Moon
In Eclipse of the Crescent Moon, Gárdonyi paints an accurate picture of the 1552 siege of Eger in an exciting mix of history and fiction. Instead of focusing on the hero, István Dobó, who led a small Hungarian garrison in resistance to huge Turkish army and forced it to retreat, the story tells of the lesser known explosives expert, Gergely Bornemissza, whose devices were critical in defeating the Turks. The novel does not only touch on the blood and battles of the time, but has strong character development, with a story of chivalry and love, adventures and disasters, heroes and villains.
Gyula Krúdy: Ladies Day
Ladies Day follows the undertaker, János Czifra, as he comes upon a series of bizarre and sordid scenes. First at a wedding and then in a brothel, he encounters a young woman who has gone into labor alone and abandoned in a dog’s den at the bottom of an air shaft. Set against the backdrop of 1900’s Budapest, her life story unfolds, nestled in a narrative of murderous love. Imre Kertész described Krúdy’s writing as “The music and inexhaustible creative energy originate from his deeply felt, cosmic eroticism, the accompanying flames of guilt, an ardent thirst for redemption and the ever present thought of death.”
Zsigmond Móricz: Very Merry
Zsigmond Móricz was one of the major Hungarian writers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a family of poor peasants, he became famous overnight in 1908 when his autobiographical story ‘Seven Pennies’ appeared in the literary publication, Nyugat. First published in 1928, his thirteenth novel, Very Merry, tells the interesting tale of a gentry of rural Hungary who, having lost much of their possessions and influence, spent their time playing cruel tricks on those not of their kind, drinking and merrymaking, told with a keen eye for the dark details of everyday life.
!!WIN WIN WIN!! Win a copy of István Örkény’s short story collection published by Corvina by answering the following question: how long does it take the average person to read a short story by István Örkény? Answers to
editorial@funzine.hu
, deadline August 13th.
