Hungarian fiction in translation Archives

Abigail by Magda Szabó (transl. Len Rix): Coming of age in 1940s Hungary

I’ve yet to read Magda Szabó’s The Door despite having enjoyed both Katalin Street and Iza’s Ballad. Abigail is very different from either of those, not least in its length, but it comes billed as the most popular of her novels in her native Hungary. Set in a girls’ boarding school, it’s about Gina whose […]

Katalin Street by Madga Szabó (transl. Len Rix): The past is another country

11 January 2019 / 18 Comments

I’ve yet to read The Door, Madga Szabó’s best known novel, and I made the mistake of reading Iza’s Ballad on holiday, failing to give it the quiet attention it needed. Nothing to distract me from Katalin Street, enjoyable or otherwise. First published in 1969, it explores the aftermath of the Second World War through

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