Series: The Hungarian List

A novel of growing up a Hungarian in Romania under Communism. In the novel Story of a Stammer, Gábor Vida asks a fundamental question: Where does stammering come from? In the process of answering this question, he discovers that an entire historical period and an entire world have been stammering, too. Through Vida’s eyes, we see that stammering comprises all...

An inventive collection of stories by one of the most prominent and acclaimed writers in Hungary today. The Birth of Emma K., a collection of twelve short stories rich with magic, introduces English-language readers to one of the most vibrant and original voices in contemporary Hungarian literature. Zsolt Láng’s new collection opens with God sitting on a bench looking over...

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...

This novel seamlessly blends the intellectual musings of Thomas Mann with a Hungarian folktale exploring the boundaries of reality and fantasy. In this captivating and whimsical novel, the German novelist and critic Thomas Mann is visiting his tailor, Klaus, to be measured for a new overcoat, but his mind is full of thoughts of his new novel and meditations on...

A ground-breaking anthology showcasing the voices of ten remarkable Hungarian women poets for English-language readers. Under a Pannonian Sky is a landmark anthology that brings the voices of ten extraordinary Hungarian women poets to English readers. Edited by award-winning translator Ottilie Mulzet, this collection spans generations, offering a rare glimpse into the rich and complex world of Hungarian poetry. The...

A posthumously published Hungarian masterpiece that reflects on fragmented lives. Born in 1963, Szilárd Borbély emerged as one of the most important poets of post-communist Europe, exploring the themes of grief, memory, and trauma in his critically acclaimed work. Following the murder of his mother during a burglary in 2000, and the subsequent breakdown and death of his father, Borbély...

A rich, layered narrative that explores the indomitable human spirit against the backdrop of Romania's complex history in the 1950s and '60s. A rural area not far from the city of Cluj-Napoca, a former Hungarian province that has been part of Romania since 1920. World War II has ended and the region is under the firm clasp of Stalinist collectivisation....

A lecturer's descent into psychological chaos unfolds against the turbulent backdrop of 1990s Budapest. In Other Death, we are thrown into the chaotic life of a forty-year-old university lecturer who is experiencing a sudden, complete psychological and existential breakdown. Afternoons disappear and years chop and change in confusion as he wanders the streets searching for work. Homelessness, alcoholism, and hate...

A trio of darkly elegant, women-centric novellas from a master of twentieth-century Hungarian literature. Mrs Kleofas’s Rooster brings together three captivating novellas by Gyula Krúdy, originally written in the 1920s and now available in English for the first time. Each story centres on a woman protagonist: a timeless adventuress, a resilient single mother, and a seductive Budapest femme fatale, respectively....