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De samenzwering
nan
122 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
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About the author
Imre Kertész
83 books390 followersBorn in Budapest in 1929, during World War II Imre Kertész was imprisoned at Auschwitz in 1944 and later at Buchenwald. After the war and repatriation, Kertész soon ended his brief career as a journalist and turned to translation, specializing in German language works. He later emigrated to Berlin. Kertész was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 2002 for "writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews
November 22, 2020
Nazi toplama kamplarına çocuk denecek yaşta düşen ancak mucize sayılacak şekilde kurtulan Macar yazar Imre Kertesz’den mükemmel bir uzun hikaye. Bu novellayı yazdığı yıllarda ülkesindeki sansürden daha doğrusu baskıcı rejimden kaçabilmek için öyküsünü bir Latin Amerika ülkesinde kurgulamış. O ülkelerde faşist askeri diktatörlükler o zamanlar (70’li yıllar) çok sayıda olduğundan kendi ülkesine ait gerçekleri ancak bu şekilde kamufle edebilmiş.
Özgürlük yanlısı burjuva bir genç ile babasının sabırları zorlayan öyküsü. İşkenceler, sorgulamalar, komplolar ve “sorumsuzluk zırhına” bürünen devletini sevdiğini söyleyen katiller. Teşkilat, yani derin devlet adına çalışan siyasi büro ve yaşananlar hiç de yabancısı olmadığımız, dünyanın her yerinde, otokrat yönetimlerde görülen uygulamalar, yargısız infazlar. İnsanın içini karartıyor okurken ama soğukkanlıkla anlatmayı başarmış Kertesz yaşanan insanlık dışı olayları.
Kurguda önemli bir değişiklik yapmış yazar, olayları kurbanların ağzından değil, bizzat işkencecinin dilinden aktarmış, böylece daha çarpıcı bir eser çıkmış ortaya. Etkileyici, sarsıcı önemli bir uzun öykü. Öneririm.
Özgürlük yanlısı burjuva bir genç ile babasının sabırları zorlayan öyküsü. İşkenceler, sorgulamalar, komplolar ve “sorumsuzluk zırhına” bürünen devletini sevdiğini söyleyen katiller. Teşkilat, yani derin devlet adına çalışan siyasi büro ve yaşananlar hiç de yabancısı olmadığımız, dünyanın her yerinde, otokrat yönetimlerde görülen uygulamalar, yargısız infazlar. İnsanın içini karartıyor okurken ama soğukkanlıkla anlatmayı başarmış Kertesz yaşanan insanlık dışı olayları.
Kurguda önemli bir değişiklik yapmış yazar, olayları kurbanların ağzından değil, bizzat işkencecinin dilinden aktarmış, böylece daha çarpıcı bir eser çıkmış ortaya. Etkileyici, sarsıcı önemli bir uzun öykü. Öneririm.
February 7, 2019
داستان: فوقالعاده؛ ترجمه: متوسط؛ آمادهسازی کتاب: افتضاح
به علت همان مورد آخر، نمرهی واقعی کتاب یک ستاره است، ولی سه دادم که باعث نشوم از خواندن کتاب منصرف شوید
به علت همان مورد آخر، نمرهی واقعی کتاب یک ستاره است، ولی سه دادم که باعث نشوم از خواندن کتاب منصرف شوید
June 6, 2021
প্রথম হাঙ্গেরিয়ান হিসেবে সাহিত্যে নোবেল পুরস্কার বিজয়ী বুদাপেস্টের সাহিত্যিক ইমরে কার্তেজের লেখক জীবনের প্রথম দিককার রচনা এটি।
ভালো লেগেছে, তবে আহামরি কিছু মনে হয়নি।
ভালো লেগেছে, তবে আহামরি কিছু মনে হয়নি।
April 6, 2010
This book was really crap. The author won the Nobel Prize for Literature. But I repeat myself.
While I'm at it, this is easily the worst translation, ever. The author is Hungarian and the story appears (it's never really stated) to be set in either Europe or (by the character names) South or Central America. Here are some examples of chosen dialect:
"Dern right!" Rodrigeuz concurred, with a guffaw.
and....
"I'm asking you, Jack!"
There is, of course, no one named 'Jack'.
While I'm at it, this is easily the worst translation, ever. The author is Hungarian and the story appears (it's never really stated) to be set in either Europe or (by the character names) South or Central America. Here are some examples of chosen dialect:
"Dern right!" Rodrigeuz concurred, with a guffaw.
and....
"I'm asking you, Jack!"
There is, of course, no one named 'Jack'.
Read
January 19, 2022"sen ne istiyorsun sevgili Rodriguez?"
"Düzeni. Ama benim düzenimi" dedi Rodriguez."
"Düzeni. Ama benim düzenimi" dedi Rodriguez."
December 22, 2019
"He perched one buttock on Rodriguez's desk."19
"He makes his way ponderously around the desk and parks one buttock on it." 98
"He makes his way ponderously around the desk and parks one buttock on it." 98
June 9, 2021
This extremely interesting novel consists of a last minute narrative or confession submitted by a henchman Antonio Rojas Martens of a military coup regime which has been toppled, as he awaits his execution. It is similar to a police procedural told from the henchman, Antonio´s, point of view, except the point of the activities of the counter intelligence department is to harass and ultimately crush the opposition to the dictatorship - that is, his unit´s work is political repression rather than standard or anti-crime police work. In fact, Antonio´s main target is a hapless, vaguely rebellious, upper middle class lad Enrique Salinas who does not know what he is getting himself into - and how his actions will drag his father Federigo into jail, and most probably, the same fate that befell him, execution. Diaz has stolen Enrique´s diary, and includes portions of that diary, which gives Enrique´s inner dialog about why he tried to pursue a relationship with the counter-coup plotters, in his confession. The horror of the story is how banal and commonplace the security forces of the military regime regard their work, of pulling a circumstantial net around their victims. Even if the object of their efforts are plotting a counter coup, the security forces are unflappable - almost until the end - nothing can stop their dreary banal work. This is truly a finely crafted, astonishing novel that tells the tragic story of the police state under a military dictatorship from the point of view of a low-level security operative, who simply does the dirty work he is told to do. The book goes inside his head and examines his reactions to the work, how superficially committed he is to it, what he thinks of his boss Diaz and the dictator, the Colonel, and how flippantly really he regards the work of entrapping the hapless victim, whose only crime is resenting the dictatorship.
Here are some quotes from the novel:
¨Let me see, how did it start? And when?¨
¨Sure, sure, ¨ says I. ¨It´s just...how should I put it...I mean, I actually thought we were serving the law here.¨ ¨Those in power, sonny boy,¨ Diaz corrects me. My head started to ache. Oddly it was actually Diaz who made it ache, not Rodriguez [a fellow security colleague, who is a sadist]. To that I say, ¨up till now I thought the two were the same.¨ ¨Fair enough,¨ Diaz concedes. ¨Only you shouldn't lose sight of the order.¨ ¨What order is that?¨ ¨Those in power first, then the law, ¨ Diaz says quietly with that inimitable smile of his.¨
¨[Federigo to Enrique, from Enrique´s diary:] ¨A person usually fights against a power in order to gain power himself. Or else because the power in question is threatening his life. You have to acknowledge, though, that in our case neither of these holds true.¨
¨[Federigo to Enrique, from Enrique´s diary:] ¨You do realize, don´t you,¨ I heard his voice continue, ¨you do realize that every faction with a sense of purpose needs its unsuspecting tools.¨
¨We stun him with a deluge of questions. He has to feel that he is utterly alone, whereas there are a lot of us; that we are able to do with him what we want; and that we know everything, much more than he could suspect.¨
¨I finally grasped [Diaz´s] ... logic, or at least I believe I grasped it. I grasped that we had now cast away everything that bound us to the laws of man; I grasped that we could no longer place our trust in anyone except ourselves.¨
Here are some quotes from the novel:
¨Let me see, how did it start? And when?¨
¨Sure, sure, ¨ says I. ¨It´s just...how should I put it...I mean, I actually thought we were serving the law here.¨ ¨Those in power, sonny boy,¨ Diaz corrects me. My head started to ache. Oddly it was actually Diaz who made it ache, not Rodriguez [a fellow security colleague, who is a sadist]. To that I say, ¨up till now I thought the two were the same.¨ ¨Fair enough,¨ Diaz concedes. ¨Only you shouldn't lose sight of the order.¨ ¨What order is that?¨ ¨Those in power first, then the law, ¨ Diaz says quietly with that inimitable smile of his.¨
¨[Federigo to Enrique, from Enrique´s diary:] ¨A person usually fights against a power in order to gain power himself. Or else because the power in question is threatening his life. You have to acknowledge, though, that in our case neither of these holds true.¨
¨[Federigo to Enrique, from Enrique´s diary:] ¨You do realize, don´t you,¨ I heard his voice continue, ¨you do realize that every faction with a sense of purpose needs its unsuspecting tools.¨
¨We stun him with a deluge of questions. He has to feel that he is utterly alone, whereas there are a lot of us; that we are able to do with him what we want; and that we know everything, much more than he could suspect.¨
¨I finally grasped [Diaz´s] ... logic, or at least I believe I grasped it. I grasped that we had now cast away everything that bound us to the laws of man; I grasped that we could no longer place our trust in anyone except ourselves.¨
April 21, 2015
Από τα πρώτα βιβλία που έγραψε ο ο νομπελίστας Κέρτες, μόλις το πρώτο που διαβάζω απ'αυτόν, θα αναζητήσω στα διάφορα παλαιοβιβλιοπωλεία τα υπόλοιπα βιβλία του, ή τουλάχιστον το αριστούργημά του, το "Μυθιστόρημα ενός ανθρώπου δίχως πεπρωμένο", για να έχω πλήρη εικόνα.
Πολύ μικρό βιβλιαράκι που διαβάζεται άνετα σε λιγότερες από δυο ώρες, φυσικά λόγω του μεγέθους, αλλά και της πολύ καλής γραφής. Νόμπελ έχει πάρει ο άνθρωπος, αλίμονο να μην ξέρει να γράφει αριστουργηματικά. Η ιστορία ενδιαφέρουσα, με την οποία ο Κέρτες θίγει τις δικτατορίες, την κρατική καταστολή, τους μυστικούς της Ασφάλειας που πρώτα σκοτώνουν και μετά κάνουν τις ερωτήσεις, τον πλήρη έλεγχο ανθρώπων και ιδεών και πολλά άλλα. Καλή ατμόσφαιρα, απλοί χαρακτήρες και απλή πλοκή, αλλά όπως είπα, θίγει πολλά πράγματα.
Πολύ μικρό βιβλιαράκι που διαβάζεται άνετα σε λιγότερες από δυο ώρες, φυσικά λόγω του μεγέθους, αλλά και της πολύ καλής γραφής. Νόμπελ έχει πάρει ο άνθρωπος, αλίμονο να μην ξέρει να γράφει αριστουργηματικά. Η ιστορία ενδιαφέρουσα, με την οποία ο Κέρτες θίγει τις δικτατορίες, την κρατική καταστολή, τους μυστικούς της Ασφάλειας που πρώτα σκοτώνουν και μετά κάνουν τις ερωτήσεις, τον πλήρη έλεγχο ανθρώπων και ιδεών και πολλά άλλα. Καλή ατμόσφαιρα, απλοί χαρακτήρες και απλή πλοκή, αλλά όπως είπα, θίγει πολλά πράγματα.
January 30, 2022
Come può uno scrittore ungherese vissuto ai tempi della dittatura raccontare una storia che parla degli abusi della polizia segreta nei confronti di cittadini considerati scomodi al regime?
Semplice, ambientandola in un non meglio specificato paese del Sud America. Il Nabucco di Verdi insegna!
Romanzo breve, ma molto bello. Una situazione perfettamente credibile, il novellino che entra in una non meglio specificata "Organizzazione" deve gestire il suo primo caso che coinvolge il figlio di un facoltoso commerciante e suo padre sta cercando di proteggerlo e di impedire che entri nei movimenti studenteschi.
Per quanto il colpo di scena finale sia ampiamente prevedibile, il racconto è teso, pieno di suspense, drammatico per la verosimiglianza con cui vengono raccontati gli abusi dei regimi totalitari. Una lettura consigliatissima.
Semplice, ambientandola in un non meglio specificato paese del Sud America. Il Nabucco di Verdi insegna!
Romanzo breve, ma molto bello. Una situazione perfettamente credibile, il novellino che entra in una non meglio specificata "Organizzazione" deve gestire il suo primo caso che coinvolge il figlio di un facoltoso commerciante e suo padre sta cercando di proteggerlo e di impedire che entri nei movimenti studenteschi.
Per quanto il colpo di scena finale sia ampiamente prevedibile, il racconto è teso, pieno di suspense, drammatico per la verosimiglianza con cui vengono raccontati gli abusi dei regimi totalitari. Una lettura consigliatissima.
August 14, 2023
História policial é uma pequena novela, pouco mais de cem páginas, escrita pelo Nobel de 2002, Imre Kertész. Há muitas coisas surpreendentes, a começar pelo fato que foi escrita na Hungria de meados da década de 1970, em tempos de ditadura comunista. É uma estória sobre ditadura e os seus porões. Como a censura húngara deixou passar um livro desses é um mistério, mesmo que a estória tenha como cenário um país sul-americano sem nome e a ditadura em questão seja de direita – o que no final das contas não faz muita diferença. Ditaduras são ditaduras.
Antonio Martens é o personagem principal e narrador. É um policial que trabalhou para o regime anterior. É plenamente consciente de seus crimes e não tem pudores em contar a respeito. Não é um grande criminoso, é só um agente, entre tantos, no meio da escala hierárquica. Não é um grande chefe. É só, como é apresentado por seu advogado no primeiro capítulo, um reles parafuso na engrenagem.
Martens relembra fatos de seu passado, quando era o novato na equipe. Seu chefe era Díaz, astucioso e desaparecido após a queda da ditadura e seu único colega era Rodriguez, truculento e que no futuro seria condenado à morte.
A novela gira em torno do caso Salinas, pai e filho, e mesmo que milionários, acabam por cair na rede da polícia política. Inocência ou culpa pouco importa. Como o próprio Martens afima em certo momento “os acontecimentos em si nada significam. A vida também pode ser vista como um acaso”, mas mesmo assim, ele entende que “Temos que acreditar em alguma coisa para justificar nossa imundície” e que “Nossa profissão é assim: uma vez começado, o caminho de volta já é sempre para a frente”.
Mas em uma conversa com seu chefe, Martens ouve de Díaz que “A nossa profissão é arriscada. Hoje você está aqui em cima na janela e amanhã, quem sabe, lá embaixo, amarrado à estaca”. Ele responde que “Daquilo não tenho medo. Só do longo caminho que conduz até lá”. E por fim, talvez tudo se resuma ao que está escrito no diário do Salinas filho: “É claro, a vida também é uma forma de suicídio: a desvantagem é que demora demais”.
Um pequeno livro surpreendente e com tremendas reflexões sobre o poder, a arbitrariedade e o autoritarismo, coisas tão presentes nas histórias de tantos lugares.
Antonio Martens é o personagem principal e narrador. É um policial que trabalhou para o regime anterior. É plenamente consciente de seus crimes e não tem pudores em contar a respeito. Não é um grande criminoso, é só um agente, entre tantos, no meio da escala hierárquica. Não é um grande chefe. É só, como é apresentado por seu advogado no primeiro capítulo, um reles parafuso na engrenagem.
Martens relembra fatos de seu passado, quando era o novato na equipe. Seu chefe era Díaz, astucioso e desaparecido após a queda da ditadura e seu único colega era Rodriguez, truculento e que no futuro seria condenado à morte.
A novela gira em torno do caso Salinas, pai e filho, e mesmo que milionários, acabam por cair na rede da polícia política. Inocência ou culpa pouco importa. Como o próprio Martens afima em certo momento “os acontecimentos em si nada significam. A vida também pode ser vista como um acaso”, mas mesmo assim, ele entende que “Temos que acreditar em alguma coisa para justificar nossa imundície” e que “Nossa profissão é assim: uma vez começado, o caminho de volta já é sempre para a frente”.
Mas em uma conversa com seu chefe, Martens ouve de Díaz que “A nossa profissão é arriscada. Hoje você está aqui em cima na janela e amanhã, quem sabe, lá embaixo, amarrado à estaca”. Ele responde que “Daquilo não tenho medo. Só do longo caminho que conduz até lá”. E por fim, talvez tudo se resuma ao que está escrito no diário do Salinas filho: “É claro, a vida também é uma forma de suicídio: a desvantagem é que demora demais”.
Um pequeno livro surpreendente e com tremendas reflexões sobre o poder, a arbitrariedade e o autoritarismo, coisas tão presentes nas histórias de tantos lugares.
January 11, 2024
“Devam etmek istemiyorum,” dedim. “Bunun bir anlam yok .”
“Geleceğini düşünmelisin Enrique.”
“Şimdiki zamanda yaşıyorum baba.”
“Öf!” diyerek karşı çıktı, “Şimdiki zaman geçip gidiyor.”
Kızmaya başlamıştım.
“Biliyorum,” diye parladım, “onu hep geçici olarak kabul etmek gerekir. Geçici olarak ama her gün yeniden. Ve her gün daha da çok. Geçici olarak. Ta ki tüm geçici yaşamımızı yaşamış oluncaya ve sonra güzel bir günde geçici olarak ölünceye kadar. Hayır, baba! Hayır ve bir daha hayır!”
kitabın 30. sayfasına gelene kadar benim nezdimde pek biʼ heyecan oluşturmamıştı. hatta bu kadar kısa biʼ kitap olmasaydın bırakmıştım şimdiye yorumları yaptım kendi kendime ama o andan itibaren kitabın içine giren günlük anlatısı öyküye başka bir boyut kazandırdı ve beni içine çekti. hatta son cümleye kadar da uyanan dikkatimi oldukça canlı tutarak devam ettirdi.
açıkçası kendimi muhafazakar biʼ okur olarak tanımlıyorum; belli başlı ülkelerden büyük çoğunlukla okuma yapar, diğerlerine karşı hep tereddüt eder ve okumamak için bin takla atarım. ama kütüphaneye gidince kendimi mümkün mertebe farklı ülkelere vermeye çalışıyorum; bunun sonucu olarak keşfetmiştim kitabı. kitaba dair yapabileceğim olumsuz eleştiri sanırım isim noktasında olurdu, polisiye denilince ben tür bakımından polisiye biʼ şeyler beklemiştim ama bir polis perspektifinden öyküymüş.
*puan konusunda çok kararsızım 3½ ⭐ ama 3 mü 4 mü hiç bilmiyorum
“Korkuyor musun?” (...)
“Neden?” diye sordum Diazʼa.
“İşte,” başıyla avluyu işaret etti, “bundan!”
“Bundan,” dedim omuzlarımı silkerek, “korkmuyorum. Yalnızca oraya götüren uzun yoldan korkuyorum.”
December 2, 2021
Ένα ακόμη μικρούλικο βιβλιαράκι 105 μόλις σελίδων, που διαβάζεται πάρα πολύ ευχάριστα σε 2 ωρίτσες το πολύ. Πρόκειται για μια πολύ καλογραμμένη –αλλοίμονο, νομπελίστας είναι ο άνθρωπος- αλλά ομολογουμένως δυνατή ιστορία. Μια κλεφτή ματιά στα απρόοπτα και την ανοησία της «εξέλιξης» της ανθρωπότητας. Μια ιστορία για «κλέφτες κι αστυνόμους», η οποία όμως μας σπρώχνει να σκεφτούμε την αστυνομία ως μια «εξωκρατική οντότητα», αυτόβουλη και αυτοκινούμενη. Την ανατροπή του τέλους –πόσο θλιβερή αλήθεια- την είδα να έρχεται αλλά κατά τα άλλα απόλαυσα το πώς η πλοκή στροβιλιζόταν σε ιλιγγιώδεις σπείρες αρχικά, προτού απογειωθεί δραματικά και μας οδηγήσει σε ένα υπέροχο τέλος!
«Ναι, η σιωπή είναι αλήθεια. Αλλά μια αλήθεια που σιωπά, και όσοι μιλάνε θα έχουν δίκιο».
«Ναι, η σιωπή είναι αλήθεια. Αλλά μια αλήθεια που σιωπά, και όσοι μιλάνε θα έχουν δίκιο».
May 19, 2010
The text of this book should be submitted as the new dictionary definition of "ineluctable." I predicted the sad little plot twist but otherwise really "enjoyed" how this one swirled at first in semi-confounding spirals before it took off on a 45-degree angle, rising drama-wise. The translation seemed a bit wonky sometimes, especially before the story clarified and took off for me. Recommended if you're thinking about writing a syllabus for a class called "The Literature of Atrocity" . . .
February 22, 2025
Kitaptan bir alıntı " elbette yaşamak da bir tür intihar: Yalnızca dezavantajı şu ki, korkunç uzun sürüyor."
Read
November 22, 2014This was a quaint and ultimately straightforward story that had very little in the way of Literature wrapped up in it. I would have been disappointed if I hadn't been reading it on a Friday that I took off of work to peruse through the University library and read all day. The writing was very succinct and unlyrical (not really what I hope for in a book). The sentences were short and varied very little in their form (again not what I'm usually looking for). This piece definitely wasn't for me and I'm not sure how eager I feel to read more Kertesz.
On a side note, it has taken me longer to figure out how I think I should pronounce the author's name in my head than it took me to read this short novel.
On a side note, it has taken me longer to figure out how I think I should pronounce the author's name in my head than it took me to read this short novel.
January 12, 2021
Brutal relato escrito a modo de cajas chinas interconectadas. Para pensar algunas cosas: la policía como ente extraestatal, la insignificancia del mal, el poder conservador del ius puniendi estatal. Genial.
March 28, 2023
"Un relato policiaco" es una reflexión sobre los mecanismos de opresión en los regímenes totalitarios que, aunque contiene algunas tesis interesantes por parte de víctimas y verdugos, me ha decepcionado bastante debido a la escasa originalidad de sus ideas. Kertész no termina de alejarse de los lugares comunes concernientes a las dictaduras y sus brazos ejecutores, y no aporta nada nuevo en cuanto a sus personajes, situaciones o ideas.
Un punto fuerte, digno de agradecimiento, es que el autor no haya sucumbido a la tentación de lo melodramático ni de lo truculento. Escritores con menos oficio que Kertész trufarían este "relato" de descripciones morbosas sobre la tortura o el sufrimiento de los reos con el fin de captar la atención del lector. A Kertész le sobra con la presencia de un pequeño muñeco (el columpio de Boger) y la sed de destrucción fanática de Rodríguez para insinuar una atmósfera corrupta y viciada en torno a los interrogados.
También resulta muy acertado el recurso de una narración aparentemente caótica en la que el lector debe unir las piezas para componer un retrato cuya imagen final intuye desde las primeras páginas. El discurso de Rojas Martens está plagado de disgresiones, saltos temporales, declaraciones de otros implicados, fragmentos de diario de uno de los acusados... Tal diversidad de narraciones dentro de la narración principal, aunque tamizada por la perspectiva de Rojas, aporta una riqueza narratológica de primer orden y mantiene el interés del lector en una historia, por otra parte, bastante lineal.
No me parece un mal libro, a mí me ha gustado, pero quizá esperaba algo más de este autor.
Un punto fuerte, digno de agradecimiento, es que el autor no haya sucumbido a la tentación de lo melodramático ni de lo truculento. Escritores con menos oficio que Kertész trufarían este "relato" de descripciones morbosas sobre la tortura o el sufrimiento de los reos con el fin de captar la atención del lector. A Kertész le sobra con la presencia de un pequeño muñeco (el columpio de Boger) y la sed de destrucción fanática de Rodríguez para insinuar una atmósfera corrupta y viciada en torno a los interrogados.
También resulta muy acertado el recurso de una narración aparentemente caótica en la que el lector debe unir las piezas para componer un retrato cuya imagen final intuye desde las primeras páginas. El discurso de Rojas Martens está plagado de disgresiones, saltos temporales, declaraciones de otros implicados, fragmentos de diario de uno de los acusados... Tal diversidad de narraciones dentro de la narración principal, aunque tamizada por la perspectiva de Rojas, aporta una riqueza narratológica de primer orden y mantiene el interés del lector en una historia, por otra parte, bastante lineal.
No me parece un mal libro, a mí me ha gustado, pero quizá esperaba algo más de este autor.
February 24, 2017
(This is a review of the Hebrew edition which actually contains two novellas - Detective Story and The Messenger)
As previous reviewers had written Detective Story deals with a familiar story about life under a totalitarian regime. The story has a "surprising twist" which is easily guessed. However as one have said "the story is nothing, how you tell it is everything!", and Imre Kertész knows how to tell a story. The story, especially its first halve is very good..
The Messenger (might have been translated as – The Traces Seeker, I think) is a different story altogether. Whereas Detective story is an example of clever, precise and clear storytelling, The Messenger is enigmatic and surreal. Above all being a story of a survivor coming back to a place which holds some hideous meaning for him, it deals mainly with personal impressions and feelings which are harder to convey. This is a more obscure story (although you can easily guess what places are being revisited). It demands high concentration and eludes a full understanding. However it is a true Holocaust masterpiece. In a country that send high schoolers to visit such places meaning usually to drive them to some specific conclusions, reading this story with its troubling ambiguous lessons is a good idea.
As previous reviewers had written Detective Story deals with a familiar story about life under a totalitarian regime. The story has a "surprising twist" which is easily guessed. However as one have said "the story is nothing, how you tell it is everything!", and Imre Kertész knows how to tell a story. The story, especially its first halve is very good..
The Messenger (might have been translated as – The Traces Seeker, I think) is a different story altogether. Whereas Detective story is an example of clever, precise and clear storytelling, The Messenger is enigmatic and surreal. Above all being a story of a survivor coming back to a place which holds some hideous meaning for him, it deals mainly with personal impressions and feelings which are harder to convey. This is a more obscure story (although you can easily guess what places are being revisited). It demands high concentration and eludes a full understanding. However it is a true Holocaust masterpiece. In a country that send high schoolers to visit such places meaning usually to drive them to some specific conclusions, reading this story with its troubling ambiguous lessons is a good idea.
August 2, 2021
رمان پلیسی، اثر برجسته نویسنده مجارستانی، ایمره کرتس است که بیشتر زندگی خود را درسایه خفقان نظام کمونیستی کشورش سپری کرد. و نیز در سال ۲۰۰۲ موفق شد جایزه نوبل را نیز از آن خود کند.
کتاب از زبان آنتونیو مارتنس، یک پلیس، روایت میشود. او در «سازمان» مشغول به کار است. تمام دانسته های ما درباره مارتنس همینقدر کوتاه است. معمولی و تیپیک بودن او چنان واضح است که هیچ نیازی برای توضیح بیشتر نیست.
اما نام کامل سازمان چیست؟ این را هم نمیدانیم. و نویسنده به عمد نامی بر آن نگذاشته است. نیازی نیست که بدانیم. تنها همینقدر به ما نشان میدهد که جاییست برای حذف و نابودی همه مخالفان و دگراندیشان.
نویسنده با پرداختن به زندگی و کار روزمره مارتنس به طرز شگفت آوری عادی بودن زندگی او را به ما نشان میدهد. انتظار شما از زندگی یک نیروی سرکوب چیست؟ نویسنده در نهایت شگفتی به ما نشان میدهد آنان زندگی ای بسیار معمولی تر از آنچه که تصور میکنیم دارند. در واقع امر سرکوب چنان برای آن ها تکراری و روزمره شده، که حتی فرصت اندیشیدن به سرکوبگر بودن خود را هم ندارند. و این همان مفهوم «ابتذال شر» یا پیش پا افتادگی و ساده بودن آن است که هانا آرنت توضیح داده است.
این کتاب کم حجم و کوتاه روایتی دست اول از چگونگی زندگی زیر سایه حکومت های توتالیتر و پلیسی به دست میدهد. جایی که همه در آن یک مظنون بالقوه هستند، حتی اگر خلاف آن ثابت شود.
کتاب از زبان آنتونیو مارتنس، یک پلیس، روایت میشود. او در «سازمان» مشغول به کار است. تمام دانسته های ما درباره مارتنس همینقدر کوتاه است. معمولی و تیپیک بودن او چنان واضح است که هیچ نیازی برای توضیح بیشتر نیست.
اما نام کامل سازمان چیست؟ این را هم نمیدانیم. و نویسنده به عمد نامی بر آن نگذاشته است. نیازی نیست که بدانیم. تنها همینقدر به ما نشان میدهد که جاییست برای حذف و نابودی همه مخالفان و دگراندیشان.
نویسنده با پرداختن به زندگی و کار روزمره مارتنس به طرز شگفت آوری عادی بودن زندگی او را به ما نشان میدهد. انتظار شما از زندگی یک نیروی سرکوب چیست؟ نویسنده در نهایت شگفتی به ما نشان میدهد آنان زندگی ای بسیار معمولی تر از آنچه که تصور میکنیم دارند. در واقع امر سرکوب چنان برای آن ها تکراری و روزمره شده، که حتی فرصت اندیشیدن به سرکوبگر بودن خود را هم ندارند. و این همان مفهوم «ابتذال شر» یا پیش پا افتادگی و ساده بودن آن است که هانا آرنت توضیح داده است.
این کتاب کم حجم و کوتاه روایتی دست اول از چگونگی زندگی زیر سایه حکومت های توتالیتر و پلیسی به دست میدهد. جایی که همه در آن یک مظنون بالقوه هستند، حتی اگر خلاف آن ثابت شود.
March 15, 2008
Either a very poorly written or a very poorly translated little novel. The language is completely at odds with the premise, and where the review in the New York Times felt this wasn't a fatal flaw, I thought that it totally was a fatal flaw.
My wife points out that I didn't like his other novels, either. Good point.
This novel pretends to be the written testimony of an imprisoned former torturer in a vaguely South American police state. And a story of the torture and execution of innocent men.
My wife points out that I didn't like his other novels, either. Good point.
This novel pretends to be the written testimony of an imprisoned former torturer in a vaguely South American police state. And a story of the torture and execution of innocent men.
March 6, 2019
La verdad es que esperaba otra cosa diferente...Me ha aburrido bastante y se me ha hecho largo.
Es cierto que la historia que cuenta está redactada de forma original, pero de forma deslabazada, por lo que me cuesta pillarle el punto.
Es cierto que la historia que cuenta está redactada de forma original, pero de forma deslabazada, por lo que me cuesta pillarle el punto.
August 8, 2020
Unflinching look at the contingency and stupidity of mankind's unravelling history, in miniature.
May 2, 2024
Another novella that I'd never heard of . Kertész is a clear , taut author who manages , within 100 pages, to capture the tyranny of a dictatorship with just a few characters. His focus is on the psychology , on the way power and success is possible only by constantly moving forward and only by those intelligent and self assured enough to keep one step ahead . This works only until it doesn't .
The form is a confession , of sorts . An ordinary detective of the failed dictatorship , now in prison , is granted pen and paper to write of a particular case , not as a plea for clemency but because he is disturbed by certain memories . He was a plod , a flat foot chosen to work in a unit that specialized in torture . He witnessed bad things ; he was indifferent , in awe of his ingenious boss and his vile henchman and subservient to them . Bad things happen.
All the best writers can take a familiar story and make it fresh ..these are the conditions in which evil thrives . And ordinary people comply . The genius of this novella is that the spare setting and minimal characterisation demands that the few scenes contain more than enough to make the point .
The form is a confession , of sorts . An ordinary detective of the failed dictatorship , now in prison , is granted pen and paper to write of a particular case , not as a plea for clemency but because he is disturbed by certain memories . He was a plod , a flat foot chosen to work in a unit that specialized in torture . He witnessed bad things ; he was indifferent , in awe of his ingenious boss and his vile henchman and subservient to them . Bad things happen.
All the best writers can take a familiar story and make it fresh ..these are the conditions in which evil thrives . And ordinary people comply . The genius of this novella is that the spare setting and minimal characterisation demands that the few scenes contain more than enough to make the point .
July 25, 2022
İsmine aldanıp Polisiye - Macera tadında bir öykü beklemeyin. Polisiye Bir Öykü değil de daha çok infazcı bir polisin ağzından anlatılan siyasal polis öyküsü gibi. Etkileyici ve yalın bir dille anlatılmış. Kısa bir kitap ancak düşündürücü.
March 26, 2024
Üç yıldızla başlayıp bir süre devam eden, fakat beş yıldızla biten bir uzun öykü! Çok sevdiğim bir dostum; bugün paylaştığı bir metninde vicdanı şu şekilde tanımladı: “Kanaatimce vicdan, hilesiz gözlerle kendi hakikatimize bakarak yer yüzünü kalp gözüyle görebildiğimiz, kendimize kulak verdiğimiz bir yerdir.”
Vicdan hep var olmalı… ve her yerde…
Vicdan hep var olmalı… ve her yerde…
Read
May 18, 2024Detective Story is a chilling account of police state operation unbounded by law or civil restraint, the more chilling for its inferences rather than graphic detail. The Detective Antonio Martens narrates the story from his jail cell to which he has been committed once the regime under which he had operated has been overthrown. Operating under superfluous logic that defies any relationship to truth, the police had arrested, questioned, tortured, and ultimately disposed of innocent victims, creating a community climate of fear, suspicion and mistrust.
From the book jacket:
"Inside Martin's mind, we inhabit the rationalizing world of evil and see firsthand the inherent danger of inertia during times of crisis. A slim, explosive novel of justice railroaded by malevolence, Detective Story is a warning
cry for our time."
The author was born in 1929 and imprisoned in Auschwitz and Buchenwald as a youth. He was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 2002. He lives in Budapest and Berlin.
From the book jacket:
"Inside Martin's mind, we inhabit the rationalizing world of evil and see firsthand the inherent danger of inertia during times of crisis. A slim, explosive novel of justice railroaded by malevolence, Detective Story is a warning
cry for our time."
The author was born in 1929 and imprisoned in Auschwitz and Buchenwald as a youth. He was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 2002. He lives in Budapest and Berlin.
August 9, 2016
I wish to tell a story
I must hurry, as most likely my time is short
They brainwashed me
Too early, damnably early
I have not been able to escape it
The only way back is to carry on straight ahead
No, it wasn’t enough. Rodriguez didn’t believe in mechanization
A person, he says, has no direct contact
As far as we were concerned, his fate was sealed
It's all a matter of timing
And the pace of events
Naturally
They had again sorted out their differences
To give an account of my days is impossible
To give an account of my plans: I have none
To give an account of my life: I'm not living
I exist. Is this a life still?
Only one philosophy can succeed the philosophy of existentialism
Non-existentialism, the philosophy of nonexistent existence
Nonexistence. The society of the nonexistence
In the street yesterday a nonexistence person trod on my foot with his nonexistence foot
Living their nonexistent lives
Or do they exist, and it's me who doesn’t?
Living is another way of killing oneself: its drawback is that it takes so horribly long
Break with this inaction
Emerge from stillness
Yes. Muteness is truth. But a truth that is mute and the ones who speak will be right
I have to speak. More: to act
I am sick of atrocities, though these are now the natural order of our world
I would still like to act!
I met R. in the street
I understand nothing about what makes the mind tick
Everybody would have a price to pay in this case, everybody
As if we were under a huge, monstrous umbrella, two lost souls in a storm . . .
She called us all murderers: me, Enrique, all men, life as a whole
There are times when being happy — just happy, nothing else — is simple vile
Because
One can't be happy in a place where everybody is unhappy
I boiled up. I burst out
It only has to be accepted temporarily — temporarily, but everyday afresh
Something definitive. Something solid and permanent
I want to act. I want to change my way of life
This is all just a figment of your imagination
But a figment that at any moment can turn into a bloody reality
A person usually fights against a power in order to gain power himself
Jill was still dancing in my nerves and lurking in my words
How I hated everything around me, everything
I hated the policemen, their newspapers, their news
I hated going into an office, a shop, even a café
Jill appeared before my eyes again, nauseatingly seductive life that she offered me
I was sick of doing nothing, of my situation, of mediocrity
Mediocrity is sickness
Everything is a matter of logic
Events per se mean nothing
Life itself can be regarded as an accident
The function of the police, however, is to bring logic to bear on Creation
You're raving, Enrique! Think about life! Think about the world!
My death would cast a shadow on them too, a massive shadow
I must hurry, as most likely my time is short
They brainwashed me
Too early, damnably early
I have not been able to escape it
The only way back is to carry on straight ahead
No, it wasn’t enough. Rodriguez didn’t believe in mechanization
A person, he says, has no direct contact
As far as we were concerned, his fate was sealed
It's all a matter of timing
And the pace of events
Naturally
They had again sorted out their differences
To give an account of my days is impossible
To give an account of my plans: I have none
To give an account of my life: I'm not living
I exist. Is this a life still?
Only one philosophy can succeed the philosophy of existentialism
Non-existentialism, the philosophy of nonexistent existence
Nonexistence. The society of the nonexistence
In the street yesterday a nonexistence person trod on my foot with his nonexistence foot
Living their nonexistent lives
Or do they exist, and it's me who doesn’t?
Living is another way of killing oneself: its drawback is that it takes so horribly long
Break with this inaction
Emerge from stillness
Yes. Muteness is truth. But a truth that is mute and the ones who speak will be right
I have to speak. More: to act
I am sick of atrocities, though these are now the natural order of our world
I would still like to act!
I met R. in the street
I understand nothing about what makes the mind tick
Everybody would have a price to pay in this case, everybody
As if we were under a huge, monstrous umbrella, two lost souls in a storm . . .
She called us all murderers: me, Enrique, all men, life as a whole
There are times when being happy — just happy, nothing else — is simple vile
Because
One can't be happy in a place where everybody is unhappy
I boiled up. I burst out
It only has to be accepted temporarily — temporarily, but everyday afresh
Something definitive. Something solid and permanent
I want to act. I want to change my way of life
This is all just a figment of your imagination
But a figment that at any moment can turn into a bloody reality
A person usually fights against a power in order to gain power himself
Jill was still dancing in my nerves and lurking in my words
How I hated everything around me, everything
I hated the policemen, their newspapers, their news
I hated going into an office, a shop, even a café
Jill appeared before my eyes again, nauseatingly seductive life that she offered me
I was sick of doing nothing, of my situation, of mediocrity
Mediocrity is sickness
Everything is a matter of logic
Events per se mean nothing
Life itself can be regarded as an accident
The function of the police, however, is to bring logic to bear on Creation
You're raving, Enrique! Think about life! Think about the world!
My death would cast a shadow on them too, a massive shadow
April 16, 2025
A creative telling of corruption and morals through the eyes of a latin american torturer.
May 27, 2008
This book is one that made me wonder if it is depressing when an author shows you how much you have in common with the human experience, or if that sort of demonstration of shared perspective is indeed uplifting. I still have not settled on the answer. This is a masterful tale, which I felt to be written in the style of some of the old masters like Camus, wherein the tale lies not only in the narrative. I would recommend this book to anyone, as it is short and sweet, but full as poetry. I still find myself returning to it, or is it that it nailed the things that occur and that someone else only pointed them out? That said, the narrative is a bit disturbing, not for the faint of heart, but masterfully told. I will seek out more by this author
February 28, 2023
This is NOT a detective story. But anyone who wants to know how easy it is to bend as a "public servant" in blind obedience until all boundaries of decency dissolve, read this great parable, told backwards from its end, about fascism and how it first creeps and then furiously arrives in the middle of a society.
It is the tragically sad story of a father and his son and the downfall of both, which - an almost Kafkaesque twist makes it possible - comes to an entirely unnecessary end when the father wants to protect and save his rash, defiant and impetuous son from the state henchmen. A tragic grotesque like no other takes its merciless course, which leads to the opposite of saving his son.
The short novel is set in a fictitious Latin American country because, at the time he was writing the text, Kertész could not dare make any associations with his (totalitarian) Hungarian homeland. Originally planned as an independent story, sorted out by him and forgotten, Kertész conceived and completed the episode at the behest of his publisher, who demanded another text for the story collection "A nyomkereso" ("The Tracker", 1977), which was still too small. Within two weeks, Kertész created this convincing analogy of an emerging state of injustice, in which in the end the only social truth consists in the dehumanization of victims as well as perpetrators through the dogma of unquestioningly executed and grotesque orders "from above.
As if paralyzed, one reads the inexorable events that lead to the inevitable end and is left with the consternation of having witnessed the story of a complete breakdown of all rules and values, which has a deep impact and whose subtle inescapability creeps under the skin while reading.
Absolutely worth reading. A powerful piece of political cautionary and rallying literature. Almost a political dystopia in the cold desert of our alienated world, if one did not know exactly that it has already happened or will happen again a thousand times.
©️ by Andreas Richartz for phenomenon_corporation 02/2023
Dies ist KEINE Detektivgeschichte. Doch wer wissen will, wie leicht es ist, sich als "Staatsdiener" in blindem Gehorsam zu verbiegen, bis alle Grenzen des Anstands sich auflösen, der lese diese großartige, rückwärts von ihrem Ende her erzählte Parabel über Faschismus und wie er erst schleichend und dann rasend in der Mitte einer Gesellschaft ankommt.
Es ist die tragisch-traurige Geschichte eines Vaters und seines Sohnes und beider Untergang, die - eine nahezu kafkaeske Wendung macht es möglich - völlig unnötiger Weise ihren Ausgang nimmt, als der Vater seinen unbedachten, trotzigen und ungestümen Sohn vor den Staatsschergen schützen und retten will. Eine tragische Groteske sondergleichen nimmt ihren unbarmherzigen Lauf, die zum Gegenteil der Rettung seines Sohnes führt.
Der kurze Roman ist in einem fiktiven lateinamerikanischen Land angesiedelt, weil Kertész zu der Zeit, als er an dem Text schrieb, es nicht wagen konnte, Assoziationen zu seiner (totalitären) ungarischen Heimat aufkommen zu lassen. Ursprünglich als selbständige Erzählung geplant, von ihm aussortiert und in Vergessenheit geraten, konzipierte und vollendete Kertész die Episode auf Geheiß seines Verlegers, der für den noch zu wenig umfangreichen Erzählungsband "Der Spurensucher" (1977) einen weiteren Text verlangte. Kertész schuf aus schriftstellerischer Not geboren binnen zwei Wochen diese überzeugende Analogie eines heraufziehenden Unrechtsstaates, in dem am Ende die einzige gesellschaftliche Wahrheit in der Entmenschlichung von Opfern wie Tätern durch das Dogma unhinterfragt auszuführender und grotesker Befehle "von oben" besteht.
Wie gelähmt liest man die unaufhaltsamen Ereignisse, die zum unausweichlichen Ende führen und bleibt konsterniert mit dem Bewusstsein zurück, der Geschichte eines völligen Zusammenbruchs aller Regeln und Werte beigewohnt zu haben, die tief nachwirkt und deren subtile Unentrinnbarkeit während des Lesens unter die Haut kriecht.
Unbedingt lesenswert. Ein starkes Stück politischer Warner- und Rufer-Literatur. Fast eine politische Dystopie in der kalten Wüste unserer entfremdeten Welt, wenn man nicht genau wüsste, dass es so oder so ähnlich schon tausendfach geschehen ist und wieder geschehen wird.
©️ by Andreas Richartz for phenomenon_corporation 02/2023
It is the tragically sad story of a father and his son and the downfall of both, which - an almost Kafkaesque twist makes it possible - comes to an entirely unnecessary end when the father wants to protect and save his rash, defiant and impetuous son from the state henchmen. A tragic grotesque like no other takes its merciless course, which leads to the opposite of saving his son.
The short novel is set in a fictitious Latin American country because, at the time he was writing the text, Kertész could not dare make any associations with his (totalitarian) Hungarian homeland. Originally planned as an independent story, sorted out by him and forgotten, Kertész conceived and completed the episode at the behest of his publisher, who demanded another text for the story collection "A nyomkereso" ("The Tracker", 1977), which was still too small. Within two weeks, Kertész created this convincing analogy of an emerging state of injustice, in which in the end the only social truth consists in the dehumanization of victims as well as perpetrators through the dogma of unquestioningly executed and grotesque orders "from above.
As if paralyzed, one reads the inexorable events that lead to the inevitable end and is left with the consternation of having witnessed the story of a complete breakdown of all rules and values, which has a deep impact and whose subtle inescapability creeps under the skin while reading.
Absolutely worth reading. A powerful piece of political cautionary and rallying literature. Almost a political dystopia in the cold desert of our alienated world, if one did not know exactly that it has already happened or will happen again a thousand times.
©️ by Andreas Richartz for phenomenon_corporation 02/2023
Dies ist KEINE Detektivgeschichte. Doch wer wissen will, wie leicht es ist, sich als "Staatsdiener" in blindem Gehorsam zu verbiegen, bis alle Grenzen des Anstands sich auflösen, der lese diese großartige, rückwärts von ihrem Ende her erzählte Parabel über Faschismus und wie er erst schleichend und dann rasend in der Mitte einer Gesellschaft ankommt.
Es ist die tragisch-traurige Geschichte eines Vaters und seines Sohnes und beider Untergang, die - eine nahezu kafkaeske Wendung macht es möglich - völlig unnötiger Weise ihren Ausgang nimmt, als der Vater seinen unbedachten, trotzigen und ungestümen Sohn vor den Staatsschergen schützen und retten will. Eine tragische Groteske sondergleichen nimmt ihren unbarmherzigen Lauf, die zum Gegenteil der Rettung seines Sohnes führt.
Der kurze Roman ist in einem fiktiven lateinamerikanischen Land angesiedelt, weil Kertész zu der Zeit, als er an dem Text schrieb, es nicht wagen konnte, Assoziationen zu seiner (totalitären) ungarischen Heimat aufkommen zu lassen. Ursprünglich als selbständige Erzählung geplant, von ihm aussortiert und in Vergessenheit geraten, konzipierte und vollendete Kertész die Episode auf Geheiß seines Verlegers, der für den noch zu wenig umfangreichen Erzählungsband "Der Spurensucher" (1977) einen weiteren Text verlangte. Kertész schuf aus schriftstellerischer Not geboren binnen zwei Wochen diese überzeugende Analogie eines heraufziehenden Unrechtsstaates, in dem am Ende die einzige gesellschaftliche Wahrheit in der Entmenschlichung von Opfern wie Tätern durch das Dogma unhinterfragt auszuführender und grotesker Befehle "von oben" besteht.
Wie gelähmt liest man die unaufhaltsamen Ereignisse, die zum unausweichlichen Ende führen und bleibt konsterniert mit dem Bewusstsein zurück, der Geschichte eines völligen Zusammenbruchs aller Regeln und Werte beigewohnt zu haben, die tief nachwirkt und deren subtile Unentrinnbarkeit während des Lesens unter die Haut kriecht.
Unbedingt lesenswert. Ein starkes Stück politischer Warner- und Rufer-Literatur. Fast eine politische Dystopie in der kalten Wüste unserer entfremdeten Welt, wenn man nicht genau wüsste, dass es so oder so ähnlich schon tausendfach geschehen ist und wieder geschehen wird.
©️ by Andreas Richartz for phenomenon_corporation 02/2023
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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