Mario Szenessy

Mario Szenessy
Born	September 30, 1930 Petrovgrad (Zrenjanin), Yugoslavia
Died	October 11, 1976 Pinneberg, Germany
Nationality	Hungarian
Fields	Literature
Known for	Novels, short stories, translations
Influenced	by Thomas Mann

Mario Szenessy (born September 14, 1930 in Petrovgrad, Yugoslavia (today Zrenjanin, Serbia) - died October 11, 1976 in Pinneberg, Germany) was a Hungarian-German author, translator, and literary critic.

Biography

Mario Szenessy grew up in the Vojvodina in a multiethnic, multilingual environment. In 1942 he moved to Szeged, Hungary where he studied Slavic and German languages and discovered the writings of Kafka and Thomas Mann. He became a school teacher and also taught Russian at the Medical Academy (today Szeged University). Based on his writings about Thomas Mann he received a grant by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and thus came to the University of Tübingen in 1963 where he worked on Mann's novella Die Betrogene. Later, he moved to Berlin. Encouraged by Inge and Walter Jens, Szenessy started to write in German and published his first book in 1967, Verwandlungskünste. Marcel Reich-Ranicki thereafter wrote: „He who is not a German writes an much better German than almost all who publish books in Germany…. bitter, sarcastic, and full of temperament, sharp, springy and lapidary.“^[1] As Szenessy’s books failed to gain a wider audience, he also started to write critics and translations. Eventually, he decided to start an education as a librarian. In 1971, Szenessy received the Hermann-Hesse-Preis for his novel Lauter falsche Pässe oder Die Erinnerungen des Roman Skorzeny.

Mario Szenessy died from a bronchial carcinoma in Pinneberg in 1976.^[2]

Work

Szenessy wrote in the epic tradition of Thomas Mann, his literary role model, and his first book received highly favorable critiques. Thus the Süddeutsche Zeitung called him a „new, wonderful narrator”.^[3] When, however, he made literary concessions to gain a greater audience, critics bemoaned this development.^[2] Yet, „remarkable remains Szenessy’s art to so completely enter into the German language that it had become finally his home.“ ^[4] He always tried to popularize East-European literature in Germany; especially the Hungarian authors György Konrád and Tibor Déry he made more familiar with translations as well as a monograph.^[2]

In his novel Lauter falsche Pässe (1971), Szenessy stylized the image of the typical entertainment novel by treating the genre in a sarcastic fashion thus transferring it into a work of art. In the book the author receives a manuscript that represents an autobiography of Roman Szorzeny. Skorzeny recalls how after falsifying stamps, he proceeds to manufacture the accompanying letters, and then the related biographies. „The text demonstrates the patterns of a fascinating narration whereby the fist name of the fictitious author (- In German Roman also means novel -) indicates that in this book the subject is the novel per se. Presented are the political thriller, the espionage and criminal novel, sailors’ yarn and Anglo romantic accounts of mail coach robberies. The introduction is a parody of the classical Bildungsroman and cites existing travesty in literature. The genre of the trivial novel presents itself as a novel in all its forms as if to prove that the novel is just not a lower art form. “^[5]

Publications

• In Paris mit Jim. Stories with an afterword by Peter Wapnewski. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1977, ISBN 3-455-07589-4
• Der Hellseher. Novel. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1974, ISBN 3-455-07593-2
• Der Hut im Gras. Novel. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1973. ISBN 3-455-07591-6
• Lauter falsche Pässe oder Die Erinnerungen des Roman Skorzeny. Novel. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1971. ISBN 3-455-07590-8
• Tibor Déry. Monographie. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1970
• Otto, der Akrobat. Stories. S. Fischer, Frankfurt/M 1969
• Verwandlungskünste. Novel. S. Fischer, Frankfurt/M 1967

Translations from Hungarian to German

• György Konrád: Der Besucher. Novel. Luchterhand, Darmstadt 1973, ISBN 3-472-86333-1
• György Konrád: Der Stadtgründer. Novel. List, München 1975, ISBN 3-471-77938-8

About Szenessy

• Otto F. Beer: Dieser Zauberlehrling bleibt bescheiden. In: Der Tagesspiegel October 20, 1974
• Marcel Reich-Ranicki: Ein Neuankömmling betrachtet uns. Mario Szenessys bemerkenswerter Erzählungsband ,Otto der Akrobat’. In: Die Zeit October 31, 1969
• Jochen Schmidt: Ein Parforceritt und allerlei literarische Zaubertricks. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Ocktober 8, 1974
• Eugen Skasa-Weiß: Des Urknalls letzter Akt. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung October 23, 1971
• Heinrich Vormweg: Geheimniskrämerei um einen falschen Schelm. Mario Szenessys Roman ,Lauter falsche Pässe’. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung October 9/10, 1971
• Willi Winkler: Mario Szenessy. In: Kritisches Lexikon zur deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur – KLG. ISBN 978-3-88377-927-0

References

The initial English article is based on a translation of the corresponding German Wikipedia article from November 18, 2009

1. ^ Marcel Reich−Ranicki: So phantasievoll wie sachlich. Mario Szenessys Roman Verwandlungskünste. In: Die Zeit from November 24, 1967
2. ^ ^{a b c} Dieter E. Zimmer (October 22, 1976). "Zum Tod von Mario Szenessy" (in German). Die Zeit. http://www.zeit.de/1976/44/Zum-Tod-von-Mario-Szenessy. Retrieved November 18, 2009. 
3. ^ Barbara Bondy in the SZ, October 14/15 1967
4. ^ Kritisches Lexikon zur deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur – KLG
5. ^ Willi Winkler: Mario Szenessy. In: Kritisches Lexikon zur deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur – KLG

External links

• Mario Szenessy in the German National Library catalogue (German)

Persondata
Name	Szenessy, Mario
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 30, 1930
Place of birth	Petrovgrad (Zrenjanin), Yugoslavia
Date of death	October 11, 1976
Place of death	Pinneberg, Germany