Vilmos Kondor

Vilmos Kondor (born 1954) is a Hungarian author, his first novel - Budapest noir - was published February 2008 by Agave Könyvek in Hungary.

Biography

Personal life

Kondor attended university in Szeged, then he continued his studies in Paris. He graduated in chemical engineering from Sorbonne, then returned to Hungary. Currently he teaches mathematics and physics at a high school. He lives with his wife, daughters and dog in a small village near Sopron. Kondor leads a quiet life and if he gives interviews at all, he does it only in email.

Professional life

Kondor worked for three years on this novel which is his fourth finished manuscript, nevertheless this is his first published work. As influences, he mentiones Jim Thompson, Charles Willeford and Dashiell Hammett. He portrayed one of his characters (Vörös Margó or in English: Red Margot) on Hammett's Dinah Brand from Red Harvest. Kondor is currently working on the second part of the series. The story is set in 1939 and will feature Gordon (the protagonist of Budapest Noir), and many local figures. Kondor says he plans two more in the series, thus the Gordon-series will run its course in four installments.

Budapest Noir

Budapest Noir received the warmest reception possible, and many reviewers hailed the novel as the first true noir written in Hungarian.

"The search ("for a Hungarian crime thriller") is at an end: Vilmos Kondor’s novel is a Hungarian crime thriller and then some, one of the harder variety, in the spirit of Chandler and Hammett, but with Hungarian characters and set in the Hungarian capital in the period before World War II. (...) Kondor’s literary experiment has been a great success: the Hungarian hard-boiled crime thriller has been born, and, far predating its own period, it leads its readers – with an effect that “carries to the present” – to the literary realm of the 1930s." Péter I. Rácz in [http://www.es.hu ÉS] .

"The author adheres to the traditions of the genre, yet he does not shy away from a precise depiction of the Budapest of the period, nor from pouring light on the social problems typical of it. We owe a mark of honest respect to his research, on the basis of which he reconstructs the transport lines, the interiors of cafés and apartments, and the hierarchy of the police: it is clear that he conducted thorough research into the newspapers and memoirs of the period. He approaches the era with great empathy, presenting the reader with a crime story which in many respects embodies the cruel, rotting world underneath the gleaming surface of a “Christian and patriotic Hungary” staggering towards collapse. The conflict is good, the dialogue snappy, the detective sharp-witted and resourceful, while the police, together with the politicians, are hopelessly immoral and deprived." János Pelle in [http://www.hvg.hu hvg.hu] .

Movie adaptation

The rights for the movie were sold before the book was published to [http://www.szupermodern.hu/ Szupermodern] . The script will be written by Csaba Csurgó whose first feature movie - [http://www.parafilm.hu Para] - will debut in the movies in October. The director is said to be Péter Fazakas of Para [http://www.magyar.film.hu/object.d67336f6-213f-4daf-aa37-7e5725e9f05c.ivy] .

Foreign editions

As of September 1, 2008, the rights of Budapest Noir have been sold to [http://www.edizionieo.it/ Edizioni e/o] in Italy, [http://www.payot-rivages.net/ Payot et Rivages] in France and [http://www.proszynski.pl/ Proszynski i S-ka] in Poland.

External links

* [http://www.budapestnoir.hu The official website of "Budapest Noir"]
* [http://hvg.hu/panorama/20080312_kondor_vilmos_agave_budapest_noir.aspx János Pelle's review of "Budapest Noir" in Hungarian on hvg.hu]
* [http://www.es.hu/pd/display.asp?channel=KRITIKA0809&article=2008-0302-1957-55XVIQ Péter I. Rácz's review of "Budapest Noir" in Hungarian in ÉS]
* [http://www.nol.hu/cikk/487425/ Krisztina Horeczky's review of "Budapest Noir" in Hungarian in Népszabadság]
* [http://www.ujszo.com/clanok.asp?vyd=20080315&cl=211372 Krisztián Benyovszky's review of "Budapest Noir" in Hungarian in Új Szó in Bratislava]
* [http://www.budapestnoir.hu/docs/PM_kritika.pdf Gábor Wágner's review of "Budapest Noir" in Hungarian in Pesti Műsor]
* [http://www.budapestnoir.hu/docs/MagyarNarancs_kritika.pdf István M. Szabó's review of "Budapest Noir" in Hungarian in Magyar Narancs]
* [http://www.mancs.hu/index.php?gcPage=/public/hirek/hir.php&id=16498 Tibor Bárány's review of "Budapest Noir" in Hungarian in Magyar Narancs]
* [http://konyves.blog.hu/2008/06/19/kave_fekete_keseru puskar's review of "Budapest Noir" in Hungarian on index.hu]
* [http://www.darkcorners.hu/cikkek/irodalom/166/kondor_vilmos_budapest_noir/1.html Janos Horváth's review of "Budapest Noir" in Hungarian on Dark Corners]
* [http://www.agavekonyvek.hu/press/zsarumagazin0514.doc Sándor Tóth's review of "Budapest Noir" in Hungarian in Zsaru Magazin]
* [http://www.budapestnoir.hu/eng/review.html# All the available reviews on "Budapest Noir" in English]
* [http://www.exit.hu/interju/interju_gyujto/interju_vegoldal/14481 Interview with Kondor in Exit in Hungarian]