What do you think?
Rate this book
Tentazione
"Tentazione" è stato definito dai critici americani «a mix of Charles Dickens and Vicki Baum»: come dire, un po’ Oliver Twist, un po’ Grand Hotel. In realtà, tutto quello che potrebbe esserci di patetico nell’infanzia del piccolo Béla, abbandonato dalla madre nelle grinfie di un’orribile virago, è costantemente contraddetto dal tono del narratore, la cui ironia non viene meno neanche nei momenti più difficili. E quando infine, a quattordici anni, Béla raggiungerà la madre, anche sopravvivere nella Budapest degli anni Venti, e poi degli anni Trenta, si rivelerà un’impresa quasi disperata. Tanto più che dovrà continuamente barcamenarsi fra due mondi opposti: l’insanabile miseria del quartiere in cui abita e il lusso sfrenato del grande albergo sfavillante di luci in cui riesce a trovar lavoro. Nell’uno e nell’altro Béla incrocerà, in una vertiginosa girandola di storie, uomini e donne che della vita gli riveleranno gli aspetti più sconcertanti e scabrosi, e conoscerà la tenerezza e la passione, l’amicizia e la generosità – l’abiezione e il tradimento, la caduta e il riscatto.
787 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1946
63 people are currently reading
2029 people want to read
About the author
János Székely
6 books21 followersJános Székely (born 7 July 1901 in Budapest, died 16 December 1958 in East Berlin) was a Hungarian writer and screenwriter. His best-known work is the 1949 autobiographical novel Kísértés (Temptation).
He published some of his books under the pen name John Pen. Further alternative names of his were Hans Székely and John S. Toldy. At the age of 18, he fled World War I, from Hungary to Germany. In Berlin, he wrote numerous screenplays for silent movie stars like Brigitte Helm, Willy Fritsch, Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings. Ernst Lubitsch in 1934 invited him to work in Hollywood. In 1938 he emigrated to the United States and became a sought-screenwriter for silent and sound films. In 1940 he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Story for Arise, My Love. In the McCarthy era, he left the United States, moved to Mexico, and in 1957 to East Berlin to work with DEFA.
He published some of his books under the pen name John Pen. Further alternative names of his were Hans Székely and John S. Toldy. At the age of 18, he fled World War I, from Hungary to Germany. In Berlin, he wrote numerous screenplays for silent movie stars like Brigitte Helm, Willy Fritsch, Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings. Ernst Lubitsch in 1934 invited him to work in Hollywood. In 1938 he emigrated to the United States and became a sought-screenwriter for silent and sound films. In 1940 he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Story for Arise, My Love. In the McCarthy era, he left the United States, moved to Mexico, and in 1957 to East Berlin to work with DEFA.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews
January 18, 2021
”MY LIFE BEGAN LIKE A REAL THRILLER: people were trying to kill me. But since this happened five months before I was born, I didn’t upset myself too much about it.”*
Béla R. is a real fighter, and in more senses than one. After surviving the attempts by his teenage mother to abort him, he is sent to old Rozi to grow up with other little unwanted “bastards”. Detested by Rozi, he is cold and hungry more often than not, even stealing the dog’s dinners to survive. Besides constantly trying to find food his wishes are:
• to have shoes to replace the newspaper wrapped around his feet,
• to go to school (at the age of nine he could neither read nor write)
• to emulate his hero, the highwayman Sándor Rózsa, in order to rob from the rich and give to the poor.
His survival instinct often turns to aggression, and throughout his childhood and teenage years (he is in his late teens by the end of the novel) he doesn’t hesitate to use his fists - at times it even buys him a bite to eat. But this tough kid has a tender side. He desperately wants to belong somewhere, and eventually he turns to writing poetry.
This novel is divided into three parts - the first is about his early years with Rozi in the country, whilst the second and third take place in Budapest.
#
*Most of the novel is written in this tone of dark humour. There is much cynicism, and although the world is seen through the eyes of a young boy, the novel has strong political and historical elements. Béla the narrator supposedly writes his story in 1947, but it actually takes place from 1912 when Béla was conceived until 1930, a year in which ”The Reverend Söderblom received the Nobel Peace Prize, the number of jobless grew and grew, people kept writing operettas about Hungary, and the world, unaware, hummed “The Blue Danube”, which carried on washing the bloated corpses of its suicides down from the Black Forest to the Black Sea in three-four time.”
The dark, self-deprecating humour serves as satire of the social problems in Hungary at that time. The narrator is particularly scathing about Miklós (Nicholas) Horthy who was regent of Hungary from 1920 to 1944. During his reign many atrocities took place. The rich got richer and the poor inevitably got poorer. In this novel there are several levels of dire poverty. During his teens Béla had a good friend, Elemér, who introduced him to Socialism by first getting him to read ‘The ABC of Socialism’. Others expose him to Fascism (according to the narrator Mussolini was regarded as a demigod in Hungary), and Béla has to make important choices, not only in politics, but in his personal relationships.
#
The characterisation is very good, and we see young Béla experience, learn and mature. There is a cast of many interesting characters, and much that I’d like to say, but I prefer not to spoil the pleasure of other readers by revealing too much.
#
Extracts
”There weren’t many people for whom I felt as much affection as I felt for, say, dogs. I didn’t love anyone, not even my own mother, but it seems that man must love something, and in my case, that was animals. I was on friendly terms with all of them. Even the most vicious dogs in the village liked me, and even the Count’s haughty greyhounds made a fuss of me, though I had no food to give them.”
“My peasant stomach digested the dog’s dinner, and my peasant soul digested my dog’s life.”
“The peasants, like hibernating bears, withdrew into their little shelters with the family, and whoever didn’t have to didn’t set foot outside at all. What for? All that walking would only make you hungry. The stove and the oven stood empty in most houses, and there wasn’t much to stop the children asking: what’s that for, Muther? And that despite the fact that not a quarter of an hour’s walk away the Count had such extensive forests that even a half of them would have been enough to keep the village chimneys smoking for a century. But those belonged to the Count, whose ancestors had got them for handing over the country to the Habsburgs, while the peasants’ forefathers had gone off, in their simple-minded way, to die for it instead—without demanding anything in return.”
“Packing was not hard. I could fit my entire wardrobe into my trouser pockets.”
“The Horthyist state stuck its slimy fingers so far into every pie that in the end, you could barely breathe without some form of official permission.”
“The highest members of society didn’t bother to remember their servants’ names. You inherited not only your predecessor’s uniform, but also their name. The butler, maid or footman might change, but their names stayed the same. This was how their masters expressed, though perhaps not consciously, that they did not consider their servants people, but merely functional objects that were just as much a part of the furniture as, say, the dining-room table.”
“She was as impersonal as a lighthouse that projects its beam mechanically onto everything that comes within range and then sweeps on, high above the waves, stark and unapproachable; and as far as it’s concerned the human race could drown out there in the dark—what was that to it?”
“I belonged neither here nor there, or rather where I did belong I didn’t want to belong, and where I wanted to belong, I did not belong. My soul was homeless, and in vain did I seek shelter for it.”
“I caught only a glimpse of him and didn’t even realize that my eye had fixed his image like a camera. My mind only developed the negative days later, one terrifying night, without any warning.”
#
The author of this novel, János Székely (1901-1958), was born in Budapest. Eventually he emigrated to the United States. He wrote two novels, plus many screenplays. In fact, he won an Academy Award for Best Story for ‘Arise my Love’. ‘Temptation’ was published in 1946.
Read
February 26, 2021Well, that was depressing; but in a good way, I suppose. It was a familiar story, a coming-of-age story of poverty and class struggle. Indeed, some of the specifics of plot felt as if I had read them before.
You would recognize the narrator: a young bastard male born into poverty and living by his wits. He finally gets an apprenticeship in a fancy hotel:
I was the one sent out to the pharmacy for condoms at three in the morning, and I was the one calling up husbands and wives with their spouses' lame and pathetic lies. I was the clerk who telephoned home to the wife to say that the conference might stretch on till dawn, and I was the driver who informed the husbands that their wives would not be home till morning because the car had broken down along the highway. I even "played" a policeman once in order to inform the district attorney's wife that the suspect still hadn't confessed, and it might be morning before he cracked.
There was precious little of that twinkling humor however. There was more misery, and hopelessness, and hunger. Hunger. Hunger. Hunger.
There was this life lesson: Life's just a big con, my friend . . . and it don't do to be too fussy. These days, of the Ten Commandments only the eleventh is still valid: survive.
There was this philosophical morsel: Only the first murder is a crime. The second, the third, the hundredth--those are merely consequences. That piece of advice wasn't really utilized in the novel, and I doubt I'll be able to make use of it either. But something sounds true about it, doesn't it? And in any event, it's a nice bit of writing.
Speaking of which, the narrator is something of a poet, for real, and that's a nice slice of storyline within all the despair, even if there's not much salvation in it. Hey you! Yes, YOU! Does this sound familiar:
"Where d'you learn to write poems?" she asked at last.
"I didn't, Muther."
"Then . . . how d'you do it?"
"I don't know. It just came."
"It just comes?"
"Sometimes. Not always."
There was quite an ensemble cast here, which you'd expect in a novel where most of the action occurs either in a hotel or in a three-story tenement building. Yet, most of the characters were from central casting, predictable portraits with predictable resolutions. Only "Her excellency" was subtly drawn, or as subtle as a sexual fetishist can be drawn.
To conclude, this was good, but in a depressing way. The helpful Amazon people chimed in telling if I "liked this" I should buy something even more depressing. But I passed.
You would recognize the narrator: a young bastard male born into poverty and living by his wits. He finally gets an apprenticeship in a fancy hotel:
I was the one sent out to the pharmacy for condoms at three in the morning, and I was the one calling up husbands and wives with their spouses' lame and pathetic lies. I was the clerk who telephoned home to the wife to say that the conference might stretch on till dawn, and I was the driver who informed the husbands that their wives would not be home till morning because the car had broken down along the highway. I even "played" a policeman once in order to inform the district attorney's wife that the suspect still hadn't confessed, and it might be morning before he cracked.
There was precious little of that twinkling humor however. There was more misery, and hopelessness, and hunger. Hunger. Hunger. Hunger.
There was this life lesson: Life's just a big con, my friend . . . and it don't do to be too fussy. These days, of the Ten Commandments only the eleventh is still valid: survive.
There was this philosophical morsel: Only the first murder is a crime. The second, the third, the hundredth--those are merely consequences. That piece of advice wasn't really utilized in the novel, and I doubt I'll be able to make use of it either. But something sounds true about it, doesn't it? And in any event, it's a nice bit of writing.
Speaking of which, the narrator is something of a poet, for real, and that's a nice slice of storyline within all the despair, even if there's not much salvation in it. Hey you! Yes, YOU! Does this sound familiar:
"Where d'you learn to write poems?" she asked at last.
"I didn't, Muther."
"Then . . . how d'you do it?"
"I don't know. It just came."
"It just comes?"
"Sometimes. Not always."
There was quite an ensemble cast here, which you'd expect in a novel where most of the action occurs either in a hotel or in a three-story tenement building. Yet, most of the characters were from central casting, predictable portraits with predictable resolutions. Only "Her excellency" was subtly drawn, or as subtle as a sexual fetishist can be drawn.
To conclude, this was good, but in a depressing way. The helpful Amazon people chimed in telling if I "liked this" I should buy something even more depressing. But I passed.
July 3, 2020
This was great, a buried Central European classic. It is described as “Dickensian,” and I guess I can see that, but to me it feels more like John Fante’s or Knut Hamsun’s stories of intelligent, artistic young men who barely subsist in conditions of abject poverty, and who often frustratingly fail to act in their own best interest, yet through their sheer indefatigability, ingratiate us into cheering them on. That, combined with B. Traven’s clear-eyed gallows humor and righteous indignation at the state of a world in which the poor are forever ground under the heels of the rich, made Temptation resonate with me.
I read the brand new NYRB edition translated by Mark Baczoni, and a good translation it is, if not without occasional clumsiness. I was not originally aware that there was an earlier English version from the 1940s, published under the pen name “John Pen,” and co-translated by the renowned Ralph Manheim, so once I found out, I quickly procured a copy. The Manheim/Tolnai translation seems a little more succinct in its language, and is sometimes more lyrical, but it also sometimes comes across as dated and repetitive (expletive substitutions such as “A pox on it!” or “The pox you say!” are used quite frequently). The frequent verse and song lyrics also seem to be more deftly handled by Baczoni, a poet in his own right. For a couple hundred pages I switched back and forth before eventually settling into the new Baczoni translation. I also got hold of the new Pushkin Press edition, which has the identical text of the NYRB edition, mainly because I liked the design so much. That edition is here. Whichever edition/translation you get, you can’t go wrong, but of course I recommend supporting the current publishers by buying the new editions.
I read the brand new NYRB edition translated by Mark Baczoni, and a good translation it is, if not without occasional clumsiness. I was not originally aware that there was an earlier English version from the 1940s, published under the pen name “John Pen,” and co-translated by the renowned Ralph Manheim, so once I found out, I quickly procured a copy. The Manheim/Tolnai translation seems a little more succinct in its language, and is sometimes more lyrical, but it also sometimes comes across as dated and repetitive (expletive substitutions such as “A pox on it!” or “The pox you say!” are used quite frequently). The frequent verse and song lyrics also seem to be more deftly handled by Baczoni, a poet in his own right. For a couple hundred pages I switched back and forth before eventually settling into the new Baczoni translation. I also got hold of the new Pushkin Press edition, which has the identical text of the NYRB edition, mainly because I liked the design so much. That edition is here. Whichever edition/translation you get, you can’t go wrong, but of course I recommend supporting the current publishers by buying the new editions.
March 11, 2021
The fucking Hungarians never let me down I swear! This will most likely pop up in my end of year list. It's a fantastically miserable coming of age epic, as raunchy as it is intellectually inclined, it makes me want to drink a bottle of lye and dance dead drunk to gypsy violin music. The Grand Budapest Hotel if it was directed by a tag tandem of Emir Kusturica and Bela Tarr with no fucking happy ending. In all honesty though Szekely's mastery at plotting and giving voice to our main narrator is nothing short of magikal...easily the greatest character narrated novel I've read since the Book of Ebenezer Le Paige. We follow the scruffy and irascible Bela as he struggles against the abysmal shithouse that is his life, from his boyhood being raised in near starvation conditions in a provincial village by an abusive former prostitute, to his teenage years in Budapest as a bellboy for a luxurious hotel, torn between the ideological extremities that plagued post-WWI Hungary. Fans of Emile Zola and Celine will feel right at home! A masterpiece!
January 22, 2024
mille stelle e fuochi d'artificio
vi prego leggetelo
siamo nipoti di David Copperfield, figli di Tom Sawyer e fratelli di Holden Caufield
vi prego leggetelo
siamo nipoti di David Copperfield, figli di Tom Sawyer e fratelli di Holden Caufield
December 13, 2020
A bildungsroman about a boy growing up in Hungary at the dawn of the fascist age, circa 1930. The novel is long, clocking in at almost 700 pages, but is written in clear prose and is quite approachable. I wouldn’t call it beachable, because it’s pretty damn depressing at times, but it is an entertaining story that can be read in distracting environments. Would be great for those of you looking for a novel to read on vacation but don’t go for the genre stuff.
The novel centers around Bela’s confrontation with the bougy elite of Hungary, while he and his fellow ‘proletariates’ battle starvation and a government that doesn’t care about them. This novel was blacklisted during the McCarthy era, but I viewed it as an attack on fascism rather than democracy and capitalism.
I felt the novel became frayed in the last quarter or so, and thus the three stars rather than four. The ending seemed a little bland as well. Overall though, I thought it quite good. A strong three stars.
The novel centers around Bela’s confrontation with the bougy elite of Hungary, while he and his fellow ‘proletariates’ battle starvation and a government that doesn’t care about them. This novel was blacklisted during the McCarthy era, but I viewed it as an attack on fascism rather than democracy and capitalism.
I felt the novel became frayed in the last quarter or so, and thus the three stars rather than four. The ending seemed a little bland as well. Overall though, I thought it quite good. A strong three stars.
September 6, 2017
Devastador documento acerca de la situación de las clases más desfavorecidas en la Hungría del periodo de entreguerras.
A través de los ojos, y letras, de su protagonista, Bela, iremos descubriendo los entresijos de la sociedad en una Budapest polarizada por los terribles contrastes existentes entre las distintas clases sociales: mientras que unos no tienen apenas para comer o encontrar un sitio donde dormir, otros despilfarran dinero en lujos del todo innecesarios sin preocuparse de lo que le suceda a la mayor parte de la población.
Es una novela magnífica, escrita de forma ágil que, en ocasiones, es capaz incluso de arrancarnos una sonrisa, demostrando así que, incluso entre la miseria más desgarradora, la vida, el humor, el amor, son capaces de encontrar un hueco, por pequeño que sea.
Lectura más que obligatoria.
A través de los ojos, y letras, de su protagonista, Bela, iremos descubriendo los entresijos de la sociedad en una Budapest polarizada por los terribles contrastes existentes entre las distintas clases sociales: mientras que unos no tienen apenas para comer o encontrar un sitio donde dormir, otros despilfarran dinero en lujos del todo innecesarios sin preocuparse de lo que le suceda a la mayor parte de la población.
Es una novela magnífica, escrita de forma ágil que, en ocasiones, es capaz incluso de arrancarnos una sonrisa, demostrando así que, incluso entre la miseria más desgarradora, la vida, el humor, el amor, son capaces de encontrar un hueco, por pequeño que sea.
Lectura más que obligatoria.
March 21, 2022
La verdad, qué barbaridad.
Sentí que pasó una eternidad en lo que terminé de leer este libro, y ahora veo que no fue porque pasaron 15 días, tampoco porque es un inmenso ladrillo de 770 páginas, ni debido a todo lo que pasó en mi vida en estos 15 días.
No, no es eso.
Es el dolor. El hambre. La pobreza. El sufrimiento. La enfermedad. La injusticia. El hambre. EL HAMBRE. Eso es lo que lo hizo eterno. ¿Cuánto se puede aguantar?
A la vez, me pregunto cómo es que se lee tan fácil. Creo que la única manera de vencer esta desgracia de ser pobre y de retratar el mundo desde esta óptica es con el humor, el sarcasmo, la ironía.
Un excelente excelente libro. Se dice que es biográfico. Será sólo de una parte de su corta vida del autor. Retrata con dureza la vida de principios de siglo en una Hungría gobernada por ricos, en donde el proletario tiene todas las de perder.
¿Ha cambiado mucho el mundo? No estoy tan segura.
Yo, cada vez que vea a un botones o a un ascensorista en algún hotel de lujo, recordaré esta lectura, pensaré en Bela, en sus penurias, en sus desgracias y en lo absurdo que somos todos permitiendo que un ser humano pase sus días encerrado en un elevador o parado a las afueras de un portón, como si fuera un adorno.
Me dolió tanto tanto como me divirtió. No hay que correr para leerlo, lo merecen todos aquellos que tienen tan poco, es un homenaje a ellos.
Sentí que pasó una eternidad en lo que terminé de leer este libro, y ahora veo que no fue porque pasaron 15 días, tampoco porque es un inmenso ladrillo de 770 páginas, ni debido a todo lo que pasó en mi vida en estos 15 días.
No, no es eso.
Es el dolor. El hambre. La pobreza. El sufrimiento. La enfermedad. La injusticia. El hambre. EL HAMBRE. Eso es lo que lo hizo eterno. ¿Cuánto se puede aguantar?
A la vez, me pregunto cómo es que se lee tan fácil. Creo que la única manera de vencer esta desgracia de ser pobre y de retratar el mundo desde esta óptica es con el humor, el sarcasmo, la ironía.
Un excelente excelente libro. Se dice que es biográfico. Será sólo de una parte de su corta vida del autor. Retrata con dureza la vida de principios de siglo en una Hungría gobernada por ricos, en donde el proletario tiene todas las de perder.
¿Ha cambiado mucho el mundo? No estoy tan segura.
Yo, cada vez que vea a un botones o a un ascensorista en algún hotel de lujo, recordaré esta lectura, pensaré en Bela, en sus penurias, en sus desgracias y en lo absurdo que somos todos permitiendo que un ser humano pase sus días encerrado en un elevador o parado a las afueras de un portón, como si fuera un adorno.
Me dolió tanto tanto como me divirtió. No hay que correr para leerlo, lo merecen todos aquellos que tienen tan poco, es un homenaje a ellos.
February 27, 2016
UNA OBRA INOLVIDABLE, DE LAS QUE SE DEBEN LEER AL MENOS UNA VEZ EN LA VIDA. EN DEFINITIVA, UN CLÁSICO
Como ocurre con los amores recientes, lo primero que me he preguntado al acabar esta novela es dónde ha estado escondida hasta ahora durante toda mi anterior vida lectora. Porque es de verdad inexplicable que una obra maestra de la categoría de “Tentación” no sea tan conocida como cualquiera de los clásicos que a todos se nos vienen a la cabeza. Quizás que su autor haya nacido en Hungría y no en el Reino Unido, Alemania o Francia sea una de las claves para resolver el enigma, porque a mí, desde luego, no se me ocurren muchos más motivos. Ahora que lo pienso, algo parecido le ocurre a la estupenda “Trilogía Transilvana” del también húngaro Miklos Bánffy.
“Tentación” es una impresionante novela de esas que llaman de iniciación en la que se narran los primeros diecisiete años de la vida de su protagonista. Diecisiete años que parecen cincuenta por lo intenso y extremo de sus experiencias vitales. En el contexto de la mísera Hungría de entreguerras, seguimos a un niño primero y luego adolescente, desde la pobreza cruda y seca del mundo rural hasta la aun más degradante y más cruel pobreza urbana. Asistimos tan perplejos como él a los contrastes salvajes entre las soberbias clases altas y los desamparados a los aquellos ignoran hasta convertirlos casi en invisibles; pero también a las diferencias entre la clase media empobrecida, los pobres y los pobres de solemnidad; y vemos impotentes cómo el descenso de una categoría de desfavorecidos a otra se produce con cruel facilidad. Todo esto transcurre ante los atónitos ojos del lector que, mientras pasa las páginas vertiginosamente, apenas puede dar crédito a lo que lee, aunque no tiene dudas acerca de la verosimilitud de los hechos, seguro como está de que no debe de haber ni una sola línea que no provenga de la realidad húngara de la época.
En “Tentación” encontramos también el antisemitismo y el nacimiento de las corrientes políticas extremas que tan triste protagonismo tendrían algunos años después en Europa. Toda la novela es un sobrecogedor paisaje de la Europa de aquellas primeras décadas del siglo XX y un anticipo de lo que vendría después.
Pero, por encima de cualquier otra cosa, ésta es una novela moral. No porque quiera ser ejemplarizante o moralizadora, sino porque el protagonista, en su lucha por la supervivencia, se debate constantemente, sin que él se dé cuenta, ni casi nosotros, entre opciones claramente morales. Al final, en esta novela conviven dos luchas individuales, una por la existencia, y otra, tan dura como la primera, por evitar la degradación moral, refugio de la dignidad del que no tiene nada.
“Tentación” es una obra inolvidable, de esas que se deben leer al menos una vez en la vida. En definitiva, un clásico.
Como ocurre con los amores recientes, lo primero que me he preguntado al acabar esta novela es dónde ha estado escondida hasta ahora durante toda mi anterior vida lectora. Porque es de verdad inexplicable que una obra maestra de la categoría de “Tentación” no sea tan conocida como cualquiera de los clásicos que a todos se nos vienen a la cabeza. Quizás que su autor haya nacido en Hungría y no en el Reino Unido, Alemania o Francia sea una de las claves para resolver el enigma, porque a mí, desde luego, no se me ocurren muchos más motivos. Ahora que lo pienso, algo parecido le ocurre a la estupenda “Trilogía Transilvana” del también húngaro Miklos Bánffy.
“Tentación” es una impresionante novela de esas que llaman de iniciación en la que se narran los primeros diecisiete años de la vida de su protagonista. Diecisiete años que parecen cincuenta por lo intenso y extremo de sus experiencias vitales. En el contexto de la mísera Hungría de entreguerras, seguimos a un niño primero y luego adolescente, desde la pobreza cruda y seca del mundo rural hasta la aun más degradante y más cruel pobreza urbana. Asistimos tan perplejos como él a los contrastes salvajes entre las soberbias clases altas y los desamparados a los aquellos ignoran hasta convertirlos casi en invisibles; pero también a las diferencias entre la clase media empobrecida, los pobres y los pobres de solemnidad; y vemos impotentes cómo el descenso de una categoría de desfavorecidos a otra se produce con cruel facilidad. Todo esto transcurre ante los atónitos ojos del lector que, mientras pasa las páginas vertiginosamente, apenas puede dar crédito a lo que lee, aunque no tiene dudas acerca de la verosimilitud de los hechos, seguro como está de que no debe de haber ni una sola línea que no provenga de la realidad húngara de la época.
En “Tentación” encontramos también el antisemitismo y el nacimiento de las corrientes políticas extremas que tan triste protagonismo tendrían algunos años después en Europa. Toda la novela es un sobrecogedor paisaje de la Europa de aquellas primeras décadas del siglo XX y un anticipo de lo que vendría después.
Pero, por encima de cualquier otra cosa, ésta es una novela moral. No porque quiera ser ejemplarizante o moralizadora, sino porque el protagonista, en su lucha por la supervivencia, se debate constantemente, sin que él se dé cuenta, ni casi nosotros, entre opciones claramente morales. Al final, en esta novela conviven dos luchas individuales, una por la existencia, y otra, tan dura como la primera, por evitar la degradación moral, refugio de la dignidad del que no tiene nada.
“Tentación” es una obra inolvidable, de esas que se deben leer al menos una vez en la vida. En definitiva, un clásico.
August 17, 2021
Una delle cose più belle che io abbia mai letto. Un capolavoro di mattone ungherese.
Secondo me è un capolavoro indiscusso.
Sono quasi 700 pagine di pura MERAVIGLIA.
Mi rendo conto che ogni qualvolta io parli di libri che ho amato profondamente non ne sono capace, e non do il meglio di me stessa.
Però tenterò.
Questo libro lo vedo davvero pochissimo, è quasi sconosciuto (oserei dire), eppure dovrebbe essere letto da tutti quelli che:
- amano accompagnare un personaggio dalla fanciullezza all’età adulta (non so se categorizzarlo nel romanzo di formazione gli possa rendere giustizia);
- cercano storie che hanno tutto il potenziale per essere le più tristi del mondo ma vengono raccontate senza la minima autocommiserazione;
- apprezzano una scrittura fluida, che non fa assolutamente pesare la mole (parliamo di 677 pagine);
- alla fine della lettura non vogliono pensare ad altro se non al protagonista e al suo destino.
•••
Béla, il nostro protagonista, lo incontriamo da bambino: sarà lui la voce narrante. Cresciamo con lui e partecipiamo alla sua vita che definire difficile è un eufemismo. Ma Béla non si lamenta mai, non si autocommisera, non si piange addosso, anzi! continuerà imperterrito a cercare nuovi orizzonti, alternative migliori: non smetterà MAI di crederci. Quando tutti si sarebbero arresi lui va avanti, a testa alta, senza vergogna, con estrema dignità.
Questo libro è una corsa contro il tempo verso un futuro migliore che sfugge continuamente di mano. Durante la lettura il sogno del protagonista sarà anche il nostro.
Béla è un lottatore. Béla è un sognatore.
Secondo me è un capolavoro indiscusso.
Sono quasi 700 pagine di pura MERAVIGLIA.
Mi rendo conto che ogni qualvolta io parli di libri che ho amato profondamente non ne sono capace, e non do il meglio di me stessa.
Però tenterò.
Questo libro lo vedo davvero pochissimo, è quasi sconosciuto (oserei dire), eppure dovrebbe essere letto da tutti quelli che:
- amano accompagnare un personaggio dalla fanciullezza all’età adulta (non so se categorizzarlo nel romanzo di formazione gli possa rendere giustizia);
- cercano storie che hanno tutto il potenziale per essere le più tristi del mondo ma vengono raccontate senza la minima autocommiserazione;
- apprezzano una scrittura fluida, che non fa assolutamente pesare la mole (parliamo di 677 pagine);
- alla fine della lettura non vogliono pensare ad altro se non al protagonista e al suo destino.
•••
Béla, il nostro protagonista, lo incontriamo da bambino: sarà lui la voce narrante. Cresciamo con lui e partecipiamo alla sua vita che definire difficile è un eufemismo. Ma Béla non si lamenta mai, non si autocommisera, non si piange addosso, anzi! continuerà imperterrito a cercare nuovi orizzonti, alternative migliori: non smetterà MAI di crederci. Quando tutti si sarebbero arresi lui va avanti, a testa alta, senza vergogna, con estrema dignità.
Questo libro è una corsa contro il tempo verso un futuro migliore che sfugge continuamente di mano. Durante la lettura il sogno del protagonista sarà anche il nostro.
Béla è un lottatore. Béla è un sognatore.
July 15, 2019
L’Enfant du Danube est un immense cri de révolte, un roman créé avec le sang et les larmes de ces peuples européens écrasés par le fascisme et l’injustice sociale galopante d’entre deux-guerres. Mais l’Enfant du Danube, c’est avant tout la rage de vivre, implacable et sans limites, d’un enfant qui refuse de mourir de pauvreté dans un pays qui n’a que faire des petits miséreux comme lui. L’Enfant du Danube, c’est une merveille littéraire à replacer comme il le mérite au coeur des grands classiques de la littérature du XXe siècle.
Pendant 850 pages, on suit l’enfance et l’adolescence de Béla dans la campagne hongroise puis à Budapest, et croyez-moi, on pourrait le suivre bien plus loin encore, jusqu’au bout du monde. J’ai lu ce pavé en 5 jours, ce qui veut tout dire parce que je n’ai pas un tel rythme de lecture habituellement. Mais dès le moment où j’ai rencontré ce petit garçon, mon coeur a chaviré. Très vite, Béla est devenu pour moi l’un des plus beaux personnages de la littérature. Très jeune, il doit apprendre à affronter l’indifférence et la méchanceté de ceux qui l’entourent, et survivre malgré tout, survivre au froid et à la famine la plus extrême. Dans un monde dépourvu d’amour, où la chaleur humaine n’est qu’une vague illusion, Béla va pourtant survivre, grandir et rêver, grâce à de rares mais déterminantes belles rencontres. C’est tout seul qu’il devra trouver le chemin de l’école où il n’aura de cesse de se distinguer. Le mélange de violence et de détermination de ce jeune garçon est magnifique, quasi incandescente et rend le lecteur profondément humble.
Au XXe siècle, il y a eu de nombreux génocides particulièrement mémorables. Mais il y a aussi les génocides qui se sont passés dans l’indifférence la plus totale. Des assassinats de masse ayant pour arme le chômage, l’indifférence, la famine. Janos Székely donne une voix à ces personnes. A celles qui travaillaient 14h par jour mais ne gagnaient pourtant pas assez pour se nourrir. A celles qui étaient qualifiées et qui auraient tué père et mère pour travailler mais à qui l’on n’offrait pas le moindre emploi. A celles qui devaient marcher 8h par jour pour aller travailler parce qu’elles n’avaient pas les moyens de prendre le tramway.
Suite de la chronique sur lottesofbooks.com
Pendant 850 pages, on suit l’enfance et l’adolescence de Béla dans la campagne hongroise puis à Budapest, et croyez-moi, on pourrait le suivre bien plus loin encore, jusqu’au bout du monde. J’ai lu ce pavé en 5 jours, ce qui veut tout dire parce que je n’ai pas un tel rythme de lecture habituellement. Mais dès le moment où j’ai rencontré ce petit garçon, mon coeur a chaviré. Très vite, Béla est devenu pour moi l’un des plus beaux personnages de la littérature. Très jeune, il doit apprendre à affronter l’indifférence et la méchanceté de ceux qui l’entourent, et survivre malgré tout, survivre au froid et à la famine la plus extrême. Dans un monde dépourvu d’amour, où la chaleur humaine n’est qu’une vague illusion, Béla va pourtant survivre, grandir et rêver, grâce à de rares mais déterminantes belles rencontres. C’est tout seul qu’il devra trouver le chemin de l’école où il n’aura de cesse de se distinguer. Le mélange de violence et de détermination de ce jeune garçon est magnifique, quasi incandescente et rend le lecteur profondément humble.
Au XXe siècle, il y a eu de nombreux génocides particulièrement mémorables. Mais il y a aussi les génocides qui se sont passés dans l’indifférence la plus totale. Des assassinats de masse ayant pour arme le chômage, l’indifférence, la famine. Janos Székely donne une voix à ces personnes. A celles qui travaillaient 14h par jour mais ne gagnaient pourtant pas assez pour se nourrir. A celles qui étaient qualifiées et qui auraient tué père et mère pour travailler mais à qui l’on n’offrait pas le moindre emploi. A celles qui devaient marcher 8h par jour pour aller travailler parce qu’elles n’avaient pas les moyens de prendre le tramway.
Suite de la chronique sur lottesofbooks.com
January 27, 2024
Geniaal!!!! Beste wat ik kon lezen tijdens mijn laatste week in Boedapest. De Hongaarse interbellum Volksgeist + ideologische & klassenstrijd vanuit het perspectief van een uitzonderlijk intelligente ‘peasant’ tienerjongen (met poëtische neigingen) die zich tussen twee werelden manoeuvreert (en uiteindelijk rarararara zucht cliché naar Amerika vlucht als verstekeling (“I will be an accusation and a proof”).
“I thought of motherly love as nothing more than hollow words that grown-ups made up to fool children. You couldn’t put it on a plate and eat it.”
“The old Hungarian saying is right: when you’ve got no dog to bark at night, you’ll end up barking in its stead.”
“I got used to that too, because there is nothing in life that you don’t - with time - get accustomed to, and you survive everything that doesn’t actually kill you. As for death, that doesn’t come so easy.”
“Such is man. So limited, so miserable. That is what they build on - that’s what makes them so strong and immovable. They’re building on a solid bedrock: human stupidity.”
“Women like her are usually labelled crazy, sick or even corrupted. But these are just words. Now I know she was no more corrupted than the class to which she belonged and the age in which she lived. This was the cues of the lost generation, (…), the whole of whose so-called philosophy essentially consisted of those shrugging and dismissive waves of the hand with such peasants, in their own rougher but truer language, used to say: forget it won, nothing lasts forever and there’s no use pissing in the wind.” (Ik ga het niet volledig overtypen maar p. 452-453 is WAW)
“You have to have lived a great deal, been passionate and desillusioned and passionate again, before one day noting - quiet and humbly - that the famous human spirit is actually just like cheese; by the time it matures, it’s already full of maggots.”
Toppunt van Hongaars cynisme kon niet ontbreken: “If you don’t want to get old, better to go hang yourself.” en “The only people who make a living from the truth are judges.”
“Times may change, but God’s immutable law did not, even under Hitler: a worker was still just a dog, while even in hell, a lord was still a lord.”
“Freedom…. You got to have something to eat first, love. The rest comes later.”
“I thought of motherly love as nothing more than hollow words that grown-ups made up to fool children. You couldn’t put it on a plate and eat it.”
“The old Hungarian saying is right: when you’ve got no dog to bark at night, you’ll end up barking in its stead.”
“I got used to that too, because there is nothing in life that you don’t - with time - get accustomed to, and you survive everything that doesn’t actually kill you. As for death, that doesn’t come so easy.”
“Such is man. So limited, so miserable. That is what they build on - that’s what makes them so strong and immovable. They’re building on a solid bedrock: human stupidity.”
“Women like her are usually labelled crazy, sick or even corrupted. But these are just words. Now I know she was no more corrupted than the class to which she belonged and the age in which she lived. This was the cues of the lost generation, (…), the whole of whose so-called philosophy essentially consisted of those shrugging and dismissive waves of the hand with such peasants, in their own rougher but truer language, used to say: forget it won, nothing lasts forever and there’s no use pissing in the wind.” (Ik ga het niet volledig overtypen maar p. 452-453 is WAW)
“You have to have lived a great deal, been passionate and desillusioned and passionate again, before one day noting - quiet and humbly - that the famous human spirit is actually just like cheese; by the time it matures, it’s already full of maggots.”
Toppunt van Hongaars cynisme kon niet ontbreken: “If you don’t want to get old, better to go hang yourself.” en “The only people who make a living from the truth are judges.”
“Times may change, but God’s immutable law did not, even under Hitler: a worker was still just a dog, while even in hell, a lord was still a lord.”
“Freedom…. You got to have something to eat first, love. The rest comes later.”
August 31, 2025
no words, best book i’ve read in 2025. i will be thinking about this for a long time.
so devastating that this is the only work by this author. plz read it and talk to me when you do. maybe i will write more of a review when it isn’t so painfully fresh!
so devastating that this is the only work by this author. plz read it and talk to me when you do. maybe i will write more of a review when it isn’t so painfully fresh!
March 13, 2023
C'aurait pu être un "bildungsroman", un roman de formation. Et ça l'est.
C'aurait pu être une fresque sociale de l'entre-deux guerres en Hongrie. Et ça l'est.
C'aurait pu être un conte moral. Ça l'est aussi.
Pour chacun ce pourra être ou l'un, ou l'autre, ou tout a la fois, ou carrément autre chose.
Pour moi ça été une lecture inoubliable.
A replacer comme l'un des Grands Classiques du XXe siècle.
L'enfant du Danube est un immense cri de révolte, gonflé de la rage de vivre implacable d'un enfant qui refuse de mourir de pauvreté dans cette Hongrie d'entre-deux-guerres. Avec Béla, on partage le quotidien d'un prolétariat usé jusqu'à la corde, c'est douloureux et pourtant plein d'espoir.
C'aurait pu être une fresque sociale de l'entre-deux guerres en Hongrie. Et ça l'est.
C'aurait pu être un conte moral. Ça l'est aussi.
Pour chacun ce pourra être ou l'un, ou l'autre, ou tout a la fois, ou carrément autre chose.
Pour moi ça été une lecture inoubliable.
A replacer comme l'un des Grands Classiques du XXe siècle.
L'enfant du Danube est un immense cri de révolte, gonflé de la rage de vivre implacable d'un enfant qui refuse de mourir de pauvreté dans cette Hongrie d'entre-deux-guerres. Avec Béla, on partage le quotidien d'un prolétariat usé jusqu'à la corde, c'est douloureux et pourtant plein d'espoir.
October 9, 2024
Un bildungsroman protagonizado por Béla, una mezcla de el Lazarrillo y Holden Caulfield y ambientado en la Hungría de entreguerras.
A la vez que vemos como el joven Béla trata de salir adelante se describe el ambiente social y político de aquella época como la lucha de clases, el auge de las ideas comunistas, la represión del gobierno húngaro, el ascenso de Hitler al poder y sobre todo la temenda miseria en la que vivia la mayoría de la población.
A la vez que vemos como el joven Béla trata de salir adelante se describe el ambiente social y político de aquella época como la lucha de clases, el auge de las ideas comunistas, la represión del gobierno húngaro, el ascenso de Hitler al poder y sobre todo la temenda miseria en la que vivia la mayoría de la población.
September 23, 2024
Es una lectura ágil que te atrapa desde la primera página. Me recordó mucho a Dickens, aunque sin la moral victoriana que caracteriza sus obras. La historia es extremadamente cruda y realista, dejando un amargo sabor de boca. Lo más impactante es su carácter atemporal, lo que la convierte en una experiencia literaria inquietante. Definitivamente, entra en mi top de lecturas del año.
October 9, 2025
Questo ambizioso romanzo racconta la crescita di Béla in un’Ungheria segnata dalla povertà e dalle ingiustizie sociali.
La scrittura è ricca, ironica e drammatica a fasi alterne, il protagonista è ben costruito, ma il ritmo non è sempre sostenuto: la lettura mi ha richiesto ben quattro mesi, e in alcuni passaggi ho trovato il testo eccessivamente diluito (per non dire noioso).
Nonostante ciò, il romanzo riesce a trasmettere con forza il senso di oppressione - sensazione che rimane dentro anche dopo averlo finito - e la voglia di riscatto che animano Béla.
L’impostazione narrativa e il contesto sociale richiamano inevitabilmente Oliver Twist, trasportato però in un’Europa centrale più cupa e meno idealizzata.
Béla, come Oliver, è un ragazzo che cerca di sopravvivere in un mondo ostile, ma lo fa con una lucidità e una fame di libertà che lo rendono più moderno. Székely riesce a costruire un mondo coerente e realistico, dove la miseria non è solo materiale ma anche morale.
Uno degli aspetti più interessanti del romanzo - e che forse me lo fa valutare più delle tre stelle - è il suo spirito rivoluzionario: Béla non si limita a subire, ma cerca attivamente di cambiare il proprio destino.
Questo atteggiamento, insieme alla critica sociale che permea il libro, lo rende figlio di un’epoca di transizione, ancora legata al “vecchio mondo” ma già proiettata verso qualcosa di nuovo. La tensione tra conservazione e cambiamento è palpabile, e dà profondità alla narrazione.
Menzione speciale per le parti ambientate nel grande hotel dove lavora Béla: vi si respira un’atmosfera che ricorda molto quella di Grand Budapest Hotel di Wes Anderson, tra eleganza decadente, personaggi eccentrici, e un microcosmo che riflette le contraddizioni della società.
La scrittura è ricca, ironica e drammatica a fasi alterne, il protagonista è ben costruito, ma il ritmo non è sempre sostenuto: la lettura mi ha richiesto ben quattro mesi, e in alcuni passaggi ho trovato il testo eccessivamente diluito (per non dire noioso).
Nonostante ciò, il romanzo riesce a trasmettere con forza il senso di oppressione - sensazione che rimane dentro anche dopo averlo finito - e la voglia di riscatto che animano Béla.
L’impostazione narrativa e il contesto sociale richiamano inevitabilmente Oliver Twist, trasportato però in un’Europa centrale più cupa e meno idealizzata.
Béla, come Oliver, è un ragazzo che cerca di sopravvivere in un mondo ostile, ma lo fa con una lucidità e una fame di libertà che lo rendono più moderno. Székely riesce a costruire un mondo coerente e realistico, dove la miseria non è solo materiale ma anche morale.
Uno degli aspetti più interessanti del romanzo - e che forse me lo fa valutare più delle tre stelle - è il suo spirito rivoluzionario: Béla non si limita a subire, ma cerca attivamente di cambiare il proprio destino.
Questo atteggiamento, insieme alla critica sociale che permea il libro, lo rende figlio di un’epoca di transizione, ancora legata al “vecchio mondo” ma già proiettata verso qualcosa di nuovo. La tensione tra conservazione e cambiamento è palpabile, e dà profondità alla narrazione.
Menzione speciale per le parti ambientate nel grande hotel dove lavora Béla: vi si respira un’atmosfera che ricorda molto quella di Grand Budapest Hotel di Wes Anderson, tra eleganza decadente, personaggi eccentrici, e un microcosmo che riflette le contraddizioni della società.
March 20, 2020
Appassionante romanzo di formazione che racconta l’infanzia e l’adolescenza di un ragazzo ungherese negli anni fra le due guerre, vissute in una tale miseria personale e generale che la sua sopravvivenza può considerarsi miracolosa. Non è certo un capolavoro letterario, ma è senz’altro una storia molto coinvolgente, così come è molto interessante la storia di questo lungo periodo nero, nerissimo, dell’Ungheria fascista.
Nonostante le ripetizioni, le ingenuità, le ridondanze, l’eccessiva enfasi retorica e di tanto in tanto certe sbavature di sentimentalismo che ricordano il Cuore di De Amicis… e certe pagine che sembrano (sia detto con simpatia) il Manuale del Giovane Comunista… nonostante tutto questo, merita davvero.
Nonostante le ripetizioni, le ingenuità, le ridondanze, l’eccessiva enfasi retorica e di tanto in tanto certe sbavature di sentimentalismo che ricordano il Cuore di De Amicis… e certe pagine che sembrano (sia detto con simpatia) il Manuale del Giovane Comunista… nonostante tutto questo, merita davvero.
August 10, 2015
In seiner Beschreibung der krassen sozialen Klassenunterschiede im Ungarn der Zwischenkriegszeit, erinnert der Roman an die naturalistische Literatur eines Émile Zola. Bitterste Armut in weiten Teilen der Gesellschaft trifft auf den dekadenten Luxus einer korrupten Oberschicht; ein Budapester Luxushotel das Abbild einer scheinbar zementierten Gesellschaftsordnung. Der junge Bela, als Hotelboy Wandler zwischen den Welten, wird im Laufe der Geschichte in zahlreiche Eskapaden politischer und amouröser Art verwickelt. Trotz 800 Seiten Umfang, ein auf jeder Seite kurzweiliges Buch, eines zu Unrecht etwas vergessenen Autors.
May 16, 2019
"Mi vida empezó como una novela negra. Intentaron asesinarme. Por suerte todo sucedió cinco meses antes de que yo naciera, así que no creo que la cosa me causara mayor sobresalto". Así empieza este NOVELÓN de János Székely, que devoré de principio a fin. Una novela con aires dickensianos, ambientada en la Hungría de entre guerras, en un mundo donde muchos sólo tienen dos alternativas "hacerse revolucionario o sinvergüenza".
Es una obra muy muy buena, no sólo por lo que cuenta, sino por cómo lo cuenta. Para mí este autor, que fue guionista de Lubitsch, fue un gran descubrimiento.
Es una obra muy muy buena, no sólo por lo que cuenta, sino por cómo lo cuenta. Para mí este autor, que fue guionista de Lubitsch, fue un gran descubrimiento.
February 18, 2022
My goodness what can I say about this masterpiece? Unbelievably stunning, funny, realistic and moving. Exetremely interesting from a historical and political point of view, given the years the story is set in.
Béla is such a compelling character, you never get tired of hearing his story, and it always manages to make you smile with his innocence and fighter spirit. I loved seeing him grow up. Every character is fascinating in their own right, from Ana to Beaumichel or Elemer and you can't help but fall in love with them all.
An incredible novel!
Béla is such a compelling character, you never get tired of hearing his story, and it always manages to make you smile with his innocence and fighter spirit. I loved seeing him grow up. Every character is fascinating in their own right, from Ana to Beaumichel or Elemer and you can't help but fall in love with them all.
An incredible novel!
April 14, 2022
Obra fundamental de la Hungría de entreguerras, bindungsroman de manual, picaresca a lo Lázaro. Recondable para todo el mundo e imprescindible si te gusta este estilo a lo Dickens/PerezGaldos. Si no fuese húngaro, seria un clásico.
Un chavalín húngaro huérfano (al principio) las pasa putas en los años 20. Termina en un hotel de lujo en Budapest viendo día a día como los señores despilfarran y pisotean a los demás como no se habrá hecho ni en el feudalismo, y como en cambio se sobrevive en los barrios bajos (voy a soñar con los pengos, la moneda de la época en Hungría). Y de fondo, la lucha que en aquella época estaba de todo menos clara entre la democracia liberal de señoritos, el comunismo y el fascismo. El pobre Bela, nuestro joven proletario, es testigo de cómo el sistema mata literalmente a sus ciudadanos. La pobreza campesina es digna. La urbana degradante. No hay espacio para los milagros. Pero sí para el humor, la moral y un tenue rayo de luz.
Estilo super sencillo, estructura fácil, las páginas vuelan. Y la edición nueva es en grande, cosida, letra gigante (la de Lumen de siempre vamos), pero a 16,90 en vez de 25 o 30 pengos, digo euros. Tiene 800 páginas pero se hacen 500. Repito: si no fuera húngaro, seria un clásico de esos de "buooo hay que leerlo". Gracias a la editorial por insistir.
Un chavalín húngaro huérfano (al principio) las pasa putas en los años 20. Termina en un hotel de lujo en Budapest viendo día a día como los señores despilfarran y pisotean a los demás como no se habrá hecho ni en el feudalismo, y como en cambio se sobrevive en los barrios bajos (voy a soñar con los pengos, la moneda de la época en Hungría). Y de fondo, la lucha que en aquella época estaba de todo menos clara entre la democracia liberal de señoritos, el comunismo y el fascismo. El pobre Bela, nuestro joven proletario, es testigo de cómo el sistema mata literalmente a sus ciudadanos. La pobreza campesina es digna. La urbana degradante. No hay espacio para los milagros. Pero sí para el humor, la moral y un tenue rayo de luz.
Estilo super sencillo, estructura fácil, las páginas vuelan. Y la edición nueva es en grande, cosida, letra gigante (la de Lumen de siempre vamos), pero a 16,90 en vez de 25 o 30 pengos, digo euros. Tiene 800 páginas pero se hacen 500. Repito: si no fuera húngaro, seria un clásico de esos de "buooo hay que leerlo". Gracias a la editorial por insistir.
August 10, 2023
Auch wenn der Roman schon 800 Seiten hat, wünschte ich er hätte noch mindestens 800 Seiten mehr.
Nichts beschreibt Bélas Geschichte besser als: "In einer Welt wie dieser gibt es für einen Menschen nur zwei Möglichkeiten: Entweder er wird Revolutionär oder ein Schurke."
Der Proletarierjunge, steuert zwar auf das Bewusstsein der sozialen Verantwortung der Arbeiterklasse hinzu, wird allerdings auf seinem Weg dahin von faschistischer Verlockung getrübt. Wer weiß, vielleicht wird Béla nach der Ankunft im vermeintlich fantastischen Amerika doch noch zum Revolutionär und kehrt in sein bis dahin sozialistisches Ungarn zurück.
Inhaltlich ist es mit Sicherheit eines der besten Bücher, die ich je gelesen habe. Zudem ließt es sich durch Székelys unheimliches schriftstellerisches Talent nicht an wenigen Stellen wie Poesie.
Eins ist klar, Bélas Geschichte werde ich bestimmt noch öfter in der Hand halten.
Nichts beschreibt Bélas Geschichte besser als: "In einer Welt wie dieser gibt es für einen Menschen nur zwei Möglichkeiten: Entweder er wird Revolutionär oder ein Schurke."
Der Proletarierjunge, steuert zwar auf das Bewusstsein der sozialen Verantwortung der Arbeiterklasse hinzu, wird allerdings auf seinem Weg dahin von faschistischer Verlockung getrübt. Wer weiß, vielleicht wird Béla nach der Ankunft im vermeintlich fantastischen Amerika doch noch zum Revolutionär und kehrt in sein bis dahin sozialistisches Ungarn zurück.
Inhaltlich ist es mit Sicherheit eines der besten Bücher, die ich je gelesen habe. Zudem ließt es sich durch Székelys unheimliches schriftstellerisches Talent nicht an wenigen Stellen wie Poesie.
Eins ist klar, Bélas Geschichte werde ich bestimmt noch öfter in der Hand halten.
October 12, 2024
"Die Geschichte des Bauernjungen Béla, der als Liftboy in einem Budapester Grandhotel eine vom nahen Untergang gezeichnete Welt kennenlernt, ist ein ebenso düsteres wie schillerndes Tableau des Ungarn der Zwischenkriegszeit." - Diogenes
Ein absoluter Banger, kann ich nur empfehlen. Sprachlich wunderbar geschrieben. Vor allem die Armut beschreibt Székely so authentisch und detailliert. Eine Coming-of-Age-Geschichte, eine Geschichte über die damaligen gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse und die Stimmung im Land. Über Familie und die erste Liebe. Alles dabei. Ein ziemlicher Schinken aber ich habe mich auf jeder Seite unterhalten gefühlt.
Liebs!
Ein absoluter Banger, kann ich nur empfehlen. Sprachlich wunderbar geschrieben. Vor allem die Armut beschreibt Székely so authentisch und detailliert. Eine Coming-of-Age-Geschichte, eine Geschichte über die damaligen gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse und die Stimmung im Land. Über Familie und die erste Liebe. Alles dabei. Ein ziemlicher Schinken aber ich habe mich auf jeder Seite unterhalten gefühlt.
Liebs!
October 19, 2020
A beautiful but sad and heartbreaking novel set in the utmost poverty of inter-war Hungary and recently republished in English by the wonderful Pushkin Press. I loved it!
January 28, 2024
This book is my personality now sorry
January 21, 2024
I’ve declared 2024 the year of the Tomes - the year I’m going to get through all of those behemoths weighing down my bookshelves… or taking up a large amount of space on my Kindle. My first choice was this book, a NYRB release of a between-World-Wars Hungarian coming-of-age novel, clocking in at almost 700 pages. Sounds riveting, right?
It is. It starts, “MY LIFE BEGAN LIKE A REAL THRILLER: people were trying to kill me. But since this happened five months before I was born, I didn’t upset myself too much about it.” An unwanted child, left with a hateful caretaker by a mother who didn’t want him, our narrator Bela tells the story of his life with a truly winning voice, such that you can’t help rooting for him even as he’s up against some of the worst of odds. For the first part of his life, he’s raised (and mistreated) by a foster mother in the village of his birth; upon reaching 14, he moves to Budapest to live with his mother and try to eke out a living in the famed city’s slums. He finds a job at a fancy hotel, develops an obsession with a rich socialite, and is caught in between the workers’ movement and the rising tide of fascism.
It’s an outstanding story, and I can see why the blurb mentions Dickens as a touchpoint: the story of this poor young man illustrating the fate of the masses does feel quite Dickensian. But, not to spoil anything, there’s no secret benefactor to give Bela a cheery ending - in the end, all Bela has to go on is his wits. Hopefully, they’ll be enough.
It is. It starts, “MY LIFE BEGAN LIKE A REAL THRILLER: people were trying to kill me. But since this happened five months before I was born, I didn’t upset myself too much about it.” An unwanted child, left with a hateful caretaker by a mother who didn’t want him, our narrator Bela tells the story of his life with a truly winning voice, such that you can’t help rooting for him even as he’s up against some of the worst of odds. For the first part of his life, he’s raised (and mistreated) by a foster mother in the village of his birth; upon reaching 14, he moves to Budapest to live with his mother and try to eke out a living in the famed city’s slums. He finds a job at a fancy hotel, develops an obsession with a rich socialite, and is caught in between the workers’ movement and the rising tide of fascism.
It’s an outstanding story, and I can see why the blurb mentions Dickens as a touchpoint: the story of this poor young man illustrating the fate of the masses does feel quite Dickensian. But, not to spoil anything, there’s no secret benefactor to give Bela a cheery ending - in the end, all Bela has to go on is his wits. Hopefully, they’ll be enough.
May 30, 2024
Mi mancherai Bèla.Questo libro mi ha accompagnato per molti mesi ho iniziato a leggerlo a gennaio prima in maniera entusiasta e poi più lentamente quasi in maniera apatica leggevo,avevo anche pensato di abbandonarlo per questo sono arrivato così lentamente alla sua fine , perché per qualche motivo ogni volta che lo riprendevo,il suo protagonista era lì che mi aspettava per raccontarmi la sua esperienza di vita , sapevo sempre dove ero rimasto e non dimenticavo niente di quello che Bèla aveva raccontato prima,mi emozionavo ,vivevo con lui senza mai perdermi d'animo. Perché questa è l'emozione che lo scrittore ti trasmette , Szèkely scrive sempre con un tono leggero anche nei momenti più oscuri e cupi. Quindi non bisogna mollare mai perché alla fine anche gli eventi più brutti sono degni di essere vissuti, un una parola Vivere Vivere Vivere. Grazie per questo viaggio.
August 21, 2025
Sin miserabilismo artificioso, Janos Skézely nos enseña que los obreros han vivido y viven en un régimen "totalitario" que no lleva ese nombre. No el gulag de la economía planificada, sino el látigo del capitalismo, que se acomoda perfectamente a la sociedad señorial nobiliaria protofascista de la Hungría de los años 1920.
Esta autobiografía novelada renueva el género picaresco. Su héroe -campesino bastardo primero y proletario paupérrimo en Budapest después- encara una Hungría en descomposición y sumida en una severa crisis económica.
No obstante, no es una novela social. Aunque haya algunos militantes serios y graves, sus páginas evocan la locura juvenil de alguien que se bate para no ser aplastado y celebra siempre y ante cualquier adversidad: "¡Viva la vida, nunca moriremos!".
Esta autobiografía novelada renueva el género picaresco. Su héroe -campesino bastardo primero y proletario paupérrimo en Budapest después- encara una Hungría en descomposición y sumida en una severa crisis económica.
No obstante, no es una novela social. Aunque haya algunos militantes serios y graves, sus páginas evocan la locura juvenil de alguien que se bate para no ser aplastado y celebra siempre y ante cualquier adversidad: "¡Viva la vida, nunca moriremos!".
Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews