Dezső Kosztolányi Books

Anna Edes is a dark and deeply moving naturalistic novel, a classic work of twentieth-century Hungarian literature. A skillful portrayal of the cruelty and emptiness of bourgeois life, it was first published in 1926 and enthusiastically received by the intellectual coffee-house society through which it circulated. The novel was later acknowledged by authors such as Thomas Mann as a model of language and form, and in turn established Dezso Kosztolanyi as one of the most significant writers of Eastern European fiction. Anna is the hard-working and long-suffering heroine, the unhappy maid destroyed by her pitiless employers. Her tragic relationship with them is played out against the political turbulence in Budapest following the First World War. Yet her endurance and revenge are depicted with keen psychological as well as historical insight, becoming, in the words of the translator, "not merely an argument about social conditions but raised to genuine tragedy."

It is 1900, give or take a few years. The Vajkays—call them Mother and Father—live in Sárszeg, a dead-end burg in the provincial heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Father retired some years ago to devote his days to genealogical research and quaint questions of heraldry. Mother keeps house. Both are utterly enthralled with their daughter, Skylark. Unintelligent, unimaginative, unattractive, and unmarried, Skylark cooks and sews for her parents and anchors the unremitting tedium of their lives. Now Skylark is going away, for one week only, it’s true, but a week that yawns endlessly for her parents. What will they do? Before they know it, they are eating at restaurants, reconnecting with old friends, attending the theater. And this is just a prelude to Father’s night out at the Panther Club, about which the less said the better. Drunk, in the light of dawn Father surprises himself and Mother with his true, buried, unspeakable feelings about Skylark. Then, Skylark is back. Is there a world beyond the daily grind and life's creeping disappointments? Kosztolányi’s crystalline prose, perfect comic timing, and profound human sympathy conjure up a tantalizing beauty that lies on the far side of the irredeemably ordinary. To that extent, Skylark is nothing less than a magical book.

„Der eleganteste aller ungarischen Schriftsteller, Sandor Márais großer Meister.“ (Péter Esterházy) „Kornél Esti ist das, was man einen Schlawiner nennt. Ein Bonvivant, der die Wahrheit jederzeit für eine gute Geschichte opfern würde. Seine ‚Bekenntnisse’ sind witzig und geistreich, aber nicht unbedingt glaubwürdig. Esti, ein Alter Ego seines Autors Kosztolányi, streift durch das Budapest der dreißiger Jahre und erzählt Kaffeehausgeschichten, die von mageren Bohemiens und traurigen Straßenmädchen handeln, von teuren Hotels und trostlosen Witwen. Was in diesen Episoden aufscheint, wirkt heute wie der letzte Walzer einer verlorenen Epoche. Kosztolányi hat dieser Zeit eine ironische und elegante Liebeserklärung gemacht.“ (Kultur-SPIEGEL)

Der ungarische Schriftsteller Dezsö Kosztolányi (1885-1936) hat mit seinem 1922 veröffentlichten Roman einen bedeutenden Beitrag zur historischen Belletristik geleistet. Der Roman besticht durch seine sprachliche Eleganz und psychologische Figurenzeichnung, die eine intime Gesellschaftskritik der antiken Weltstadt bietet.

Kornél Esti ist ein faszinierender Bohemien und Bürgerschreck im eleganten Budapest. Er verkörpert einen modernen Mephisto und gehört zu den lebhaftesten Fiktionen, die je niedergeschrieben wurden.

Dezső Kosztolányi (1885-1936), básnik, prozaik, literárny kritik a publicista, patrí k skupine spisovateľov, ktorí na prelome storočia položili základy modernej maďarskej literatúry. Jeho historický román Krvavý básnik Nero (1922) je skvelou štúdiou vnútorného myšlienkového sveta samovládcua despotu, ktorý netúži byť veľkým politikom, ale veľkým básnikom, pričom je aj v jednom, aj v druhom len úbohým diletantom. Jeho diletantstvo v spojení s neobmedzenou mocou prerastá do šialenstva a Nero, utrýznený bezobsažným umeleckým nepokojom, dá v básnickej žiarlivosti a pomatenosti zavraždiť básnikov, ku ktorým boli múzy milostivejšie, vlastnú matku i manželku a napokon aj svojho starého učiteľa Senecu, „toho majstrovsky klzkého dvorana a sofistu, ktorý je napriek všetkému predsa len skutočným filozofom a naozaj veľkým literátom", ako ho vo svojom liste, vzdávajúcom hold Kosztolányiho umeleckému majstrovstvu, charakterizoval sám Thomas Mann. Cez postavu Nera, cez jeho mravný a telesný úpadok stvárnil Kosztolányi aj rozpadajúcu sa Rímsku ríšu, rozhlodanú anarchiou, strachom a chaosom. A práve v tom, že Kosztolányi poukazuje na hodnoty pošliapané v prachu a dovoláva sa ich vzkriesenia a obnovy, tkvie silné posolstvo jeho románu.