- Ferenc Karinthy
Ferenc Karinthy (
June 2 ,1921 ,Hungary -February 29 ,1992 ) was anovellist ,playwright ,journalist ,editor andtranslator , as well as awater polo champion. He authored more than a dozen novels. [ [http://www.telegrambooks.com/archives/metropole/metropole_about_the_author/ Telegram Books - Author Profile] ] The writer and journalistFrigyes Karinthy was his father."Epepe" ("Metropole") is the first of Karinthy's novels to be translated into English. It was published by Telegram Books in 2008.
Biography
Ferenc Karinthy was born in
Budapest , the second son of celebrated Hungarian writerFrigyes Karinthy . He wrote his first novel, "Don Juan éjszakája" ("Don Juan's night") in 1943 while studying literature and linguistics at Pázmány Péter University. In 1945 he was awarded a PhD in linguistics.Karinthy worked as a script editor for
Nemzeti Színház andMadách Theatre , as well as theatres inMiskolc ,Szeged andDebrecen . Between 1957 and 1960, Karinthy translated a number of writers into Hungarian includingMachiavelli andMolière . He won a number of awards for his own writing including theBaumgarten Prize , the József Attila Prize and theKossuth Prize . [ [http://www.hunlit.hu/karinthyferenc,en Hungarian Book Foundation] ]Karinthy died in Budapest in 1992. "Napló" ("Journal"), the diary Karinthy kept between 1969 and 1991, was published posthumously in 1994.
Epepe (Metropole)
"Epepe", written in 1970, is the first of Karinthy's novels to be translated into English, appearing as "Metropole" in 2008.
This essentially Kafkaesque tale follows the travails of Budai, a linguist who steps off a plane expecting to be in Helsinki but finds himself in a sprawling and densely populated metropolis whose residents speak an unknown and unintelligible language. Budai is swept along with the crowd to a hotel, where he tries in vein to explain his predicament.
With no route home apparent, Budai spends his days trying to learn what he can about the city and the language but is frustrated at every turn. The only person with whom he has any kind of relationship is Epepe, who operates the lift in his hotel. But even she can't help when Budai's money runs out and his situation becomes ever more desperate.
Bibliography
* "Don Juan éjszakája (Don Juan's night)" (1943)
* "Szellemidézés" (1947)
* "Budapesti tavasz (Spring Comes to Budapest)" (1953)
* "Hazai tudósításo (Reports from Home)" (1954)
* "Irodalmi történetek (Literary Stories)" (1956)
* "Ferencvárosi szív (A Fan of Ferencváros)" (1959)
* "Négykezes (Piece for Four Hands)" (1967)
* "Epepe (Metropole)" (1970)
* "Harminchárom (Thirty-three)" (1977)
* "Napló (Journal)" (1994)References
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