Journey by Moonlight

Journey by Moonlight

Current English trans. edition cover
Author Antal Szerb
Original title Utas és holdvilág
Translator Len Rix,
Country Hungary
Language Hungarian
Genre Novel
Publisher Pushkin Press
Publication date
1937 (English: 2001, 2003)
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 368
ISBN 1-901285-37-5
OCLC 47978000
894.51133 21
LC Class PH3351.S86 U813 2001

Journey by Moonlight (Hungarian: Utas és holdvilág, literally "Traveler and Moonlight") is among the best-known novels in contemporary Hungarian literature. Written by Antal Szerb, it was first published in 1937. According to Nicholas Lezard, it is "one of the greatest works of modern European literature...I can't remember the last time I did this: finished a novel and then turned straight back to page one to start it over again. That is, until I read Journey by Moonlight."[1]

Plot introduction

The novel follows Mihály, a Budapest native from a bourgeois family on his honeymoon in Italy, as he encounters and attempts to make sense of his past. The novel features his romantic figure, aloof and poetic, but struggling to break with an adolescent rebelliousness which he tries to quell under respectable bourgeois conformism, but also with the disturbing attraction of an erotic death-wish. There is no doubt an element of Freudianism in this. Psychoanalysis was especially influential and risqué at the time. Also present is perhaps the sexual and emotional claustrophobia of a society with strong Catholic and marital traditions. These influences notwithstanding, the novel has a distinct originality.

Characters in "Journey by Moonlight"

Release details

Beside English, the novel has been translated into German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Croatian.

References

  1. Lezard, Nicholas (28 July 2001). "Just divine". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 February 2017.

See also


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.