Siberian Garrison

by Rodion Markovits

Guarnigione siberiana è considerato uno dei massimi capolavori della letteratura ungherese di guerra. È un'opera ricca di avventura, di movimento, di colore, che si legge d'un fiato e che anche, oltre a questa sua estrema facilità descrittiva, contiene pagine di un profondo significato morale. Rodion Markovits, sempre attento al lato umano della grande tragedia che ha investito l'Europa, vi narra l'odissea di un soldato ungherese che cade prigioniero dei Russi e che, arrivata finalmente la pace, deve rientrare nel proprio paese. Ma il viaggio si rivelerà inaspettatamente più difficile al ritorno che all'andata.

387 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1928

About the author

Rodion Markovits (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈrodion ˈmɒrkovit͡ʃ]; or Markovitz, born Markovits Jakab [ˈjɒkɒb]; 1888 – August 27, 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian-born writer, journalist and lawyer, one of the early modernist contributors to Magyar literary culture in Transylvania and Banat regions. He achieved international fame with the extended reportage Szibériai garnizon ("Siberian Garrison", 1927–8), which chronicles his own exotic experiences in World War I and the Russian Civil War. Locally, he is also known for his lifelong contribution to the political and cultural press of Transylvania. A Romanian national after 1920, Markovits divided himself between the Hungarian Romanian and Jewish communities, and was marginally affiliated with both the Ma art group and the Erdélyi Helikon writers.

Rodion Markovitz was seen by his contemporaries as an eccentric, and some of his colleagues believed him a minor and incidental writer. He was also noted for his leftist inclinations, cemented during his personal encounter with Bolshevism but toned down during the final decades of his life. Although he continued to publish short stories until the 1940s, and wrote the sequel novel Aranyvonat ("Gold Train"), his work never again matched the success of Szibériai garnizon. His final home was the Banat city of Timişoara, where he worked for the Romanian and Hungarian press, and eventually became a grassroots activist of the Hungarian People's Union.

Reviews

[Tibor Jánosi-Mózes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ezt a könyvet nem fogom elfeledni. Túl sokat kellene írnom, hogy miért... inkább csak ajánlom mindenkinek :)

[Fruzsi Borsos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nehezen kuzdottem magam végig ezen a könyvön. Nem kertelek, nem tetszett a főhős "anonimitasa", az E/3-as elbeszélő csak még nyomasztóbb volt mindezek mellett. Megtartotta a távolságot az elbeszélt tortenettol, túl fájdalmas lett volna újra átélni. Ezáltal viszont számomra szürke maradt és nem mozdult előrébb.

[Havasi Richárd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helyenként élvezetes, de 500 oldalban ez nekem most kevés volt.