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Abendschule: Fibel für Erwachsene
Ihr Schreiben kommt aus dem Schweigen. Aus der Präsenz der unerzählten Geschichten, die das Kind von Überlebenden des Holocaust umgab. Zsófia Bán, die sich mit Essays über W. G. Sebald, Imre Kertész und Susan Sontag einen Namen gemacht hat, wählt die Form des Schulbuchs, um ihren enzyklopädischen Lebensstoff Fach für Fach, von Geographie und Chemie bis Französisch durchzuarbeiten. In einer subtil ironischen, von Terézia Móra hinreißend vertonten Sprache erzählt sie vom Verschwinden eines Naturforschers im Dschungel von Laos, von der Reise des jungen Flaubert mit seinem Freund Maxime nach Ägypten oder von einem mitteleuropäisches Frauenleben, das vor Gewehrläufen an der Donau endete. Sie schmuggelt aber auch eine der großartigsten lesbischen Liebeszenen in ihre Abendschule hinein, die je geschrieben wurden. Alle Texte eint die Lust, Tabuisiertes, auch Abwegiges zu erkunden, um fürs Leben zu lernen - ein eminent kluges, erzählsüchtiges Buch.
239 pages, Hardcover
First published March 16, 2007
9 people are currently reading
319 people want to read
About the author
Zsófia Bán
20 books10 followersZsófia Bán was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1957 and grew up in Brazil and Hungary. A writer, essayist, and critic of art and literature, she made her fiction debut in 2007 with
Esti iskola
[Night School: A Reader for Adults], followed by
Amikor még csak az állatok éltek
[When There Were Only Animals, 2012].
Zsófia Bán’s writing often addresses topics related to visuality, visual arts, photography, personal and cultural memory, historical trauma, as well as gender. She has written a number of essays related to the topic of literature and visuality, including those on W.G. Sebald, Susan Sontag, Imre Kertész and Péter Nádas. Her short stories and essays have been widely anthologized, and translated to a number of languages, including German, English, Spanish, Czech, Slovakian and Slovenian.
She lives and works in Budapest, where she is Associate Professor at Eötvös Loránd University, Department of American Studies.
Le Rouge et le Noir (Moving House and Farewell)
On the Eve of No Return
......
Wikipedia
Eötvös Loránd University
Zsófia Bán’s writing often addresses topics related to visuality, visual arts, photography, personal and cultural memory, historical trauma, as well as gender. She has written a number of essays related to the topic of literature and visuality, including those on W.G. Sebald, Susan Sontag, Imre Kertész and Péter Nádas. Her short stories and essays have been widely anthologized, and translated to a number of languages, including German, English, Spanish, Czech, Slovakian and Slovenian.
She lives and works in Budapest, where she is Associate Professor at Eötvös Loránd University, Department of American Studies.
Le Rouge et le Noir (Moving House and Farewell)
On the Eve of No Return
......
Wikipedia
Eötvös Loránd University
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 1, 2019
This one we didn’t understand at all. We’ll have to ask about it when we get home.
Esti iskola: Olvasokönyv felnötteknek by Bán Zsófia was originally published in 2007 in Hungarian, and has now been translated into English as Night School: A Reader for Grownups by Jim Tucker and published by Open Letter.
This is a novel that, were it in English, would be a prime contender for the Goldsmiths Prize, and were the publisher in the UK, for the Republic of Consciousness Prize - my two favourite prizes - as it is highly creative in its literary approach. That said, my reading experience wasn't entirely successful.
The book is a collection of 21 connected short stories (c10 pages each), but connected not by recurring characters or settings, but rather by format. It is presented as a primary-school textbook, each chapter a lesson, complete with exercises for the reader at the end.
One of the last pieces concludes with the thought-provoker:
WRITE AN ESSAY on this topic: If you had the choice, which of your favorite authors would you choose not to meet ?
And many of the lessons themselves usually have an underlying theme which only gradually becomes clear - they may be an imaginative reinterpretation of the life story of a famous person, or a creative story of what might lie behind the creation of a famous painting, for example.
To take one example, the lesson "The Two Fridas (school beyond the border)", delivered in the Health/Homeland section of the syllabus.
The lesson is narrated by one of two identical twins, except one is from South America and the other Hungarian (reflecting the author's own split upbringing), both new kids at a school, and both called Frida.
At one point, as identical twins do, they worry but what happens, thought we in horror, if one of us dies before the other and take drastic action to prevent it:
And so it was: we filched a scalpel and clamp from the doctor's bag, and once he left we went into the bathroom and set about connecting our hearts. Our reasoning was that if we could make the two of them one, then we could not die separately, because the other one would also be me. Our biology teacher would have given us a B+ for this (because, and I quite, an A is only for the most exceptional)
It (hopefully) gradually dawns on the reader that this is all a reference to the painting The Two Fridas by Frida Kahlo:
see https://www.fridakahlo.org/images/pai...
And the exercises for the pupil at the end:
Put your hand on your heart: Do you always wash your hands before an operation?
What do you conclude from the fact that a frog heart keeps beating even without the frog?
In your opinion, what does this tell us about the frog? Also: Is this healthy?
Bán has written extensively on the great WG Sebald and each of the stories is also accompanied by lots of mini black and white photos, here in the margin of the page and rather more surreal than Sebald's, in a sort of dialogue with the text. I understand that in the original the reader may have been invited to cut them out and stick them in appropriate blank spaces on the back cover, although that is not true in the US edition.
It is all very impressive, but doesn't always make for an entirely satisfactory reading experience. In many lessons the main point seems to be spotting the allusion - and I sometimes felt like the pupils in the quote that opens my review. And the quality of the writing (which is actually very high), as well as any emotional as opposed to intellectual resonance, became rather secondary. Even when the allusion was clear, full appreciation of the resulting story sometimes required a depth of familiarity with the source I didn't always have.
Indeed as with most textbooks it would have been better had it come with answers in the back.
The Geography/Biology/History lessons 'Mme de Merteuil Shakes Herself' is one of the easier ones to appreciate: a 20th century continuation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses by email rather than letter. In this story Vicomte survives the duel and indirectly consummates his relationship with Madame de Merteuil as he is the sperm donor for her IVF treatment. As the various characters converge on New York in 2001, the ending becomes a little too obvious.
But then along comes some stories that are genuinely wrenching.
In A Film (24/1), the narrator talks themselves through a series of dives ending in one that will be watched all over the world. As the story progresses, the identify of their final diving tower suddenly becomes brutally clear.
And Jolika And Dezso is a good example of a story that requires some context, rather inaccessible for the unprompted English-language reader, to provide the emotional payoff. A rather opaque and allusive story, which includes one section in italics that is clearly a direct quote, and, while the story is largely about hats, ends with the question:
1. IF IT TAKES ONE SECOND for you to hit five targets without reloading and you don't get interrupted, then what time in the afternoon does the water change colour?
Then, from an earlier published translation, I discovered that the quoted section, although unattributed, is from Ernö Szép's memoir, The Smell of Humans, and then the nature of the story becomes horribly clear.
Indeed I was left wondering how many other dark allusions I had missed. The holocaust (Ban's own parents are, I believe, holocaust survivors) and 9/11 are clearly two themes that run through the book, as well as drawing heavily on Hungarian literature and famous paintings. As one story proclaims:
There is something unsaid here, some hint, some dark and unhappy story. Or if not dark and unhappy, then something left unsaid, something that, shut up, sweetheart, you're too young for this, something that, ask your father, something that is there, since only a blind person could not see it, but whereof one cannot speak. One must be silent.
Overall, a wonderfully creative piece and brilliantly translated as well, given the novel dips into various languages and draws on so many sources.
4.5 stars for the concept although 3 for the reading experience (mainly my fault - I perhaps should have let the book flow) so 3.75 overall.
--------------------------
My best guess of the source for the different stories - in spoiler brackets - in each case the stories are not the true ones but the author's imaginative reconstruction:
-------------------------------------------------------
This is the latest from the excellent Asymptote Book Club (https://www.asymptotejournal.com/book...), which I would highly recommend: the Asymptote Journal team select a piece of world literature each month from some of the leading independent presses in Canada, the US, and the UK.
Their review/introduction to this novel:
https://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog...
And the list of books to date:
14. Night School: A Reader for Grownups by Zsófia Bán, tr. Jim Tucker, published by Open Letter
(my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
13. The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique Mukasonga, tr. Jordan Stump, published by Archipelago Books
(my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
12. Hotel Tito, by Ivana Simić Bodrožić, tr. Ellen Elias-Bursać, published by Seven Stories Press
(my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
11. Oct-18 Like a Sword Wound by Ahmet Altan tr. Brendan Freely and Yelda Türedi, published by Seven Stories
(my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
10. Sep-18 Moving Parts by Prabda Yoon, tr. Mui Poopoksakul , published by Tilted Axis Press
(my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
9. Aug-18 Revenge of the Translator by Brice Matthieussen, tr. Emma Ramadan, published by Deep Vellum
8. Jul-18 I Didn't Talk by Beatriz Bracher, tr. Adam Morris. published by New Directions
7. Jun-18 The Tidings of the Trees by Wolfgang Hilbig, tr. Isabel Fargo Cole, published by Two Lines Press
(my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
6. May-18 The Chilli Bean Paste Clan by Yan Ge, tr. Nicky Harmon, published by Balestier Press
5. Apr-18 Brother in Ice by Alicia Kopf, tr. Mara Faye Letham, published by And Other Stories
4. Mar-18 Trick by Dominico Starnone tr. Jhumpa Lahiri, published by Europa Editions
3. Feb-18 Love by Hanne Ørstavik, tr. Martin Aitken, published by Archipelago Books
2. Jan-18 Aranyak: Of the Forest by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, tr. Rimli Bhattacharya, published by Seagull Books
1. Dec-17 The Lime Tree by César Aira, tr. Chris Andrews, published by And Other Stories
Esti iskola: Olvasokönyv felnötteknek by Bán Zsófia was originally published in 2007 in Hungarian, and has now been translated into English as Night School: A Reader for Grownups by Jim Tucker and published by Open Letter.
This is a novel that, were it in English, would be a prime contender for the Goldsmiths Prize, and were the publisher in the UK, for the Republic of Consciousness Prize - my two favourite prizes - as it is highly creative in its literary approach. That said, my reading experience wasn't entirely successful.
The book is a collection of 21 connected short stories (c10 pages each), but connected not by recurring characters or settings, but rather by format. It is presented as a primary-school textbook, each chapter a lesson, complete with exercises for the reader at the end.
One of the last pieces concludes with the thought-provoker:
WRITE AN ESSAY on this topic: If you had the choice, which of your favorite authors would you choose not to meet ?
And many of the lessons themselves usually have an underlying theme which only gradually becomes clear - they may be an imaginative reinterpretation of the life story of a famous person, or a creative story of what might lie behind the creation of a famous painting, for example.
To take one example, the lesson "The Two Fridas (school beyond the border)", delivered in the Health/Homeland section of the syllabus.
The lesson is narrated by one of two identical twins, except one is from South America and the other Hungarian (reflecting the author's own split upbringing), both new kids at a school, and both called Frida.
At one point, as identical twins do, they worry but what happens, thought we in horror, if one of us dies before the other and take drastic action to prevent it:
And so it was: we filched a scalpel and clamp from the doctor's bag, and once he left we went into the bathroom and set about connecting our hearts. Our reasoning was that if we could make the two of them one, then we could not die separately, because the other one would also be me. Our biology teacher would have given us a B+ for this (because, and I quite, an A is only for the most exceptional)
It (hopefully) gradually dawns on the reader that this is all a reference to the painting The Two Fridas by Frida Kahlo:
see https://www.fridakahlo.org/images/pai...
And the exercises for the pupil at the end:
Put your hand on your heart: Do you always wash your hands before an operation?
What do you conclude from the fact that a frog heart keeps beating even without the frog?
In your opinion, what does this tell us about the frog? Also: Is this healthy?
Bán has written extensively on the great WG Sebald and each of the stories is also accompanied by lots of mini black and white photos, here in the margin of the page and rather more surreal than Sebald's, in a sort of dialogue with the text. I understand that in the original the reader may have been invited to cut them out and stick them in appropriate blank spaces on the back cover, although that is not true in the US edition.
It is all very impressive, but doesn't always make for an entirely satisfactory reading experience. In many lessons the main point seems to be spotting the allusion - and I sometimes felt like the pupils in the quote that opens my review. And the quality of the writing (which is actually very high), as well as any emotional as opposed to intellectual resonance, became rather secondary. Even when the allusion was clear, full appreciation of the resulting story sometimes required a depth of familiarity with the source I didn't always have.
Indeed as with most textbooks it would have been better had it come with answers in the back.
The Geography/Biology/History lessons 'Mme de Merteuil Shakes Herself' is one of the easier ones to appreciate: a 20th century continuation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses by email rather than letter. In this story Vicomte survives the duel and indirectly consummates his relationship with Madame de Merteuil as he is the sperm donor for her IVF treatment. As the various characters converge on New York in 2001, the ending becomes a little too obvious.
But then along comes some stories that are genuinely wrenching.
In A Film (24/1), the narrator talks themselves through a series of dives ending in one that will be watched all over the world. As the story progresses, the identify of their final diving tower suddenly becomes brutally clear.
And Jolika And Dezso is a good example of a story that requires some context, rather inaccessible for the unprompted English-language reader, to provide the emotional payoff. A rather opaque and allusive story, which includes one section in italics that is clearly a direct quote, and, while the story is largely about hats, ends with the question:
1. IF IT TAKES ONE SECOND for you to hit five targets without reloading and you don't get interrupted, then what time in the afternoon does the water change colour?
Then, from an earlier published translation, I discovered that the quoted section, although unattributed, is from Ernö Szép's memoir, The Smell of Humans, and then the nature of the story becomes horribly clear.
Indeed I was left wondering how many other dark allusions I had missed. The holocaust (Ban's own parents are, I believe, holocaust survivors) and 9/11 are clearly two themes that run through the book, as well as drawing heavily on Hungarian literature and famous paintings. As one story proclaims:
There is something unsaid here, some hint, some dark and unhappy story. Or if not dark and unhappy, then something left unsaid, something that, shut up, sweetheart, you're too young for this, something that, ask your father, something that is there, since only a blind person could not see it, but whereof one cannot speak. One must be silent.
Overall, a wonderfully creative piece and brilliantly translated as well, given the novel dips into various languages and draws on so many sources.
4.5 stars for the concept although 3 for the reading experience (mainly my fault - I perhaps should have let the book flow) so 3.75 overall.
--------------------------
My best guess of the source for the different stories - in spoiler brackets - in each case the stories are not the true ones but the author's imaginative reconstruction:
-------------------------------------------------------
This is the latest from the excellent Asymptote Book Club (https://www.asymptotejournal.com/book...), which I would highly recommend: the Asymptote Journal team select a piece of world literature each month from some of the leading independent presses in Canada, the US, and the UK.
Their review/introduction to this novel:
https://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog...
And the list of books to date:
14. Night School: A Reader for Grownups by Zsófia Bán, tr. Jim Tucker, published by Open Letter
(my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
13. The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique Mukasonga, tr. Jordan Stump, published by Archipelago Books
(my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
12. Hotel Tito, by Ivana Simić Bodrožić, tr. Ellen Elias-Bursać, published by Seven Stories Press
(my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
11. Oct-18 Like a Sword Wound by Ahmet Altan tr. Brendan Freely and Yelda Türedi, published by Seven Stories
(my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
10. Sep-18 Moving Parts by Prabda Yoon, tr. Mui Poopoksakul , published by Tilted Axis Press
(my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
9. Aug-18 Revenge of the Translator by Brice Matthieussen, tr. Emma Ramadan, published by Deep Vellum
8. Jul-18 I Didn't Talk by Beatriz Bracher, tr. Adam Morris. published by New Directions
7. Jun-18 The Tidings of the Trees by Wolfgang Hilbig, tr. Isabel Fargo Cole, published by Two Lines Press
(my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
6. May-18 The Chilli Bean Paste Clan by Yan Ge, tr. Nicky Harmon, published by Balestier Press
5. Apr-18 Brother in Ice by Alicia Kopf, tr. Mara Faye Letham, published by And Other Stories
4. Mar-18 Trick by Dominico Starnone tr. Jhumpa Lahiri, published by Europa Editions
3. Feb-18 Love by Hanne Ørstavik, tr. Martin Aitken, published by Archipelago Books
2. Jan-18 Aranyak: Of the Forest by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, tr. Rimli Bhattacharya, published by Seagull Books
1. Dec-17 The Lime Tree by César Aira, tr. Chris Andrews, published by And Other Stories
June 9, 2023
Inspired short fiction encased in an equally inspired format. Night School is set up like a textbook, with stories falling in to certain subjects ("English / Home Economics"), interjections in the text ("[Can you believe something that you cannot imagine? Argue pro or con!]"), and questions at the end of most chapters ("CALCULATE how many angels can fit on the head of a pin if each angel is approximately 45mm and faithless"). As you can probably hazard from these examples, this is a pretty far cry from a traditional reader. Bán teases, pokes and prods the reader with questions that seem bizarre, outlandish, but nonetheless inspire genuine dialogue with the text. Some stories take more advantage of this than others, but the collection on the whole feels fairly cohesive.
Most of the these stories have some sort of historical or literary basis that is almost immediately subverted, from Laika the dog, abandoned aboard the second sputnik, recording a secret message to inspire Soviet children, or a continuation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in the modern era, emails replacing letters. Bán's writing is assured, confident, and endlessly cheeky. Occasionally she engages in some absolutely gorgeous flights, such as this excerpt from Night Zoo, a story that will stick with me:
"Then once we had lost our way in the woods and could no longer see the markings on the trees, and there was nothing to make out to the end of sight and all we had left was to mark each other's unfolding skin and flesh to help us find our way back to the world because leaning there against the tree trunk we had become one with the molecules of the air, absorbed into the pores of the ferns, sinking into the moss, and as we wriggled in the traps of flesh-eating plants we figured we might as well just surrender and become dark-purple colorings on its petals, the color of your bite marks; then when we looked down on the village from the grassy hillside there were great comings and goings in preparation for some celebration, and while the festive food simmered in huge vats, some were tanning animal skins, thrashing them with cudgels of bamboo, all to the beating of drums, and then we decided to celebrate with them in our own way, letting the holy day unfold in all its glory, memorialized forever, and the arc of our backs was a perfect fit in the arc of the hillside, and whichever of us happened to be on top in the embrace without end, without aim, had her back warmed by the sun, since fulfillment was not focused on one sole point but instead, like a tenaciously extended note at a piano matinee, unexpected and irreproducible, where the sleepy audience that wanted nothing more than a post-luncheon nap was wholly irrelevant, and where each successive note made their unprepared hearts ever more uneasy, unlike the evening big-name concerts where even at the coatroom they knew they were in for an enchanted evening of wrenched hearts and tight throats, and so were not caught unawares when that is what they actually got, no, in fact they were anticipating it, expecting, desiring it, and once they had it they all nodded in satisfaction, yes, that's what we were expecting and now we can go home, but here, listening to an unknown musician with the languorous afternoon sun slanting through the concert hall windows to glow lazily on the far wall, highlighting some details of the gilded plaster statues and stuccoes while plunging others into shadow, and out of nowhere comes an unexpected melody for which we had steeled ourselves even less, then suddenly you get the feeling as of a sharp tool plunged into your defenseless heart and, as if that were not enough, it persists there in the skin and flesh of your chest and bones, unresponsive to attempts at removal, and indeed penetrates deeper the more you try to wrench it out, and finally we come to accept it as something that will remain, being now where it belongs, and we entrust ourselves to it, perch on it ever so delicately, letting it carry us wherever it would go, like out of this concert hall into the afternoon sun, even out of the city and up a sunlit, grassy, distant hilltop where a tenaciously extended note leads us on into the night, into the next morning and the countless successive unbounded epochs, and yes, as the funeral procession led by a swan carriage passes by to bury the old village priest, a coach for the deceased, adorned with colorful carved wooden swans, pushed in silence by the villagers in their colorful headdress, a few of them standing on top, by the casket, to ensure it does not slide off, and at the very front of it all, in the position of honor, stands the oldest man in the village, who looks to be 120, trembling as he holds fast to the coffin with bony, liver-spotted hands so as not to also slide off into the great unknown—and at this point we stepped forward from the wall and took our place in the procession, following them to the edge of the jungle, where a great pyre stood on a spot freshly cleared of undergrowth, and atop it an enormous wooden bull whose hinder parts gaped open to reveal a hollow; through this opening they pushed the coffin into the bull, following which the villagers put in the mementos, devotional objects, and gifts."
A sentence and scene worthy of the best. Brilliant translation. Highly recommend this quirky collection for someone looking for stories both resonant and fun.
"WRITE AN ESSAY on this topic: If you had the choice, which of your favorite authors would you choose not to meet?"
Most of the these stories have some sort of historical or literary basis that is almost immediately subverted, from Laika the dog, abandoned aboard the second sputnik, recording a secret message to inspire Soviet children, or a continuation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in the modern era, emails replacing letters. Bán's writing is assured, confident, and endlessly cheeky. Occasionally she engages in some absolutely gorgeous flights, such as this excerpt from Night Zoo, a story that will stick with me:
"Then once we had lost our way in the woods and could no longer see the markings on the trees, and there was nothing to make out to the end of sight and all we had left was to mark each other's unfolding skin and flesh to help us find our way back to the world because leaning there against the tree trunk we had become one with the molecules of the air, absorbed into the pores of the ferns, sinking into the moss, and as we wriggled in the traps of flesh-eating plants we figured we might as well just surrender and become dark-purple colorings on its petals, the color of your bite marks; then when we looked down on the village from the grassy hillside there were great comings and goings in preparation for some celebration, and while the festive food simmered in huge vats, some were tanning animal skins, thrashing them with cudgels of bamboo, all to the beating of drums, and then we decided to celebrate with them in our own way, letting the holy day unfold in all its glory, memorialized forever, and the arc of our backs was a perfect fit in the arc of the hillside, and whichever of us happened to be on top in the embrace without end, without aim, had her back warmed by the sun, since fulfillment was not focused on one sole point but instead, like a tenaciously extended note at a piano matinee, unexpected and irreproducible, where the sleepy audience that wanted nothing more than a post-luncheon nap was wholly irrelevant, and where each successive note made their unprepared hearts ever more uneasy, unlike the evening big-name concerts where even at the coatroom they knew they were in for an enchanted evening of wrenched hearts and tight throats, and so were not caught unawares when that is what they actually got, no, in fact they were anticipating it, expecting, desiring it, and once they had it they all nodded in satisfaction, yes, that's what we were expecting and now we can go home, but here, listening to an unknown musician with the languorous afternoon sun slanting through the concert hall windows to glow lazily on the far wall, highlighting some details of the gilded plaster statues and stuccoes while plunging others into shadow, and out of nowhere comes an unexpected melody for which we had steeled ourselves even less, then suddenly you get the feeling as of a sharp tool plunged into your defenseless heart and, as if that were not enough, it persists there in the skin and flesh of your chest and bones, unresponsive to attempts at removal, and indeed penetrates deeper the more you try to wrench it out, and finally we come to accept it as something that will remain, being now where it belongs, and we entrust ourselves to it, perch on it ever so delicately, letting it carry us wherever it would go, like out of this concert hall into the afternoon sun, even out of the city and up a sunlit, grassy, distant hilltop where a tenaciously extended note leads us on into the night, into the next morning and the countless successive unbounded epochs, and yes, as the funeral procession led by a swan carriage passes by to bury the old village priest, a coach for the deceased, adorned with colorful carved wooden swans, pushed in silence by the villagers in their colorful headdress, a few of them standing on top, by the casket, to ensure it does not slide off, and at the very front of it all, in the position of honor, stands the oldest man in the village, who looks to be 120, trembling as he holds fast to the coffin with bony, liver-spotted hands so as not to also slide off into the great unknown—and at this point we stepped forward from the wall and took our place in the procession, following them to the edge of the jungle, where a great pyre stood on a spot freshly cleared of undergrowth, and atop it an enormous wooden bull whose hinder parts gaped open to reveal a hollow; through this opening they pushed the coffin into the bull, following which the villagers put in the mementos, devotional objects, and gifts."
A sentence and scene worthy of the best. Brilliant translation. Highly recommend this quirky collection for someone looking for stories both resonant and fun.
"WRITE AN ESSAY on this topic: If you had the choice, which of your favorite authors would you choose not to meet?"
February 17, 2019
Content warnings for short references to child abuse and sexual abuse.
I picked up this book because I love the premise - an encyclopedia of life, a reader for grownups, built up through 21 short stories. Textbook-esque questions and observations are strewn throughout, and while some are funny or just weird others are poignant and made me think.
The stories fall into several loose types. Several look at the history of Eastern Europe (Bán is Hungarian) with a dystopian bent. Some are character studies, or an experimental narrative idea that's spun out. Others examine an aspect of a famous person's life - how the wickedly wonderful subject of Manet's Olympia got the artist to do the painting in the first place. Laika the dog's thoughts before she is blasted into space, never to return. ("This recording is for you, Soviet children, so you can write its message on a sky full of meteors and stardust: THESE PEOPLE ARE ALL GALACTIC LIARS.")
My favorite is an examination of Newton that is free-wheeling and hard to describe. I both laughed and stared into the middle distance, lost in thought. What if instead of watching an apple fall he saw a boulder careening down a mountainside? Or simply threw a ball into the air hundreds of times to watch it rise, slow, hang for an inexplicable moment, then drop? Neither of these is as romantic as an apple falling, and the latter is hard work. Would we have the same thoughts about Newton if he came up with his theory about gravity in one of these other ways?
Other little bits struck a chord, like how people make unthinking exclamations in their native language. When I was in study abroad all of my classmates were multi-lingual, and we would joke that the best way to figure out someone's mother tongue is to punch them and see what language they swear at you in. (Not recommended, obvs.)
I didn't understand everything Bán was getting at, but I don't think that's the point. Some stories are a wash of images with a thread of plot, and I enjoyed drawing connections and going where she led me. That being said, some things were over my head. For example, one story is an email correspondence among characters from Dangerous Liaisons. I haven't read the book and was so lost that I ended up moving on to the next piece.
Overall, though, I loved spending time with this collection. It's odd, subversively feminist, and made me look at certain aspects of life in a new light. I took forever to get through the book because I only read one story at a time, often on a long stretch of my commute, and let it rattle around my head for a day or two. Perfect for any fan of weird and wonderful short stories.
Thanks to Open Letter and Edelweiss for providing a review copy.
I picked up this book because I love the premise - an encyclopedia of life, a reader for grownups, built up through 21 short stories. Textbook-esque questions and observations are strewn throughout, and while some are funny or just weird others are poignant and made me think.
WHAT is the meaning of allegro, ma non troppo? AND HOW DO WE KNOW when allegro is too troppo?
CALCULATE how many angels can fit on the head of a pin if each angel is approximately 45mm and faithless.
WRITE AN ESSAY on this topic: If you had the choice, which of your favorite authors would you choose not to meet?
The stories fall into several loose types. Several look at the history of Eastern Europe (Bán is Hungarian) with a dystopian bent. Some are character studies, or an experimental narrative idea that's spun out. Others examine an aspect of a famous person's life - how the wickedly wonderful subject of Manet's Olympia got the artist to do the painting in the first place. Laika the dog's thoughts before she is blasted into space, never to return. ("This recording is for you, Soviet children, so you can write its message on a sky full of meteors and stardust: THESE PEOPLE ARE ALL GALACTIC LIARS.")
My favorite is an examination of Newton that is free-wheeling and hard to describe. I both laughed and stared into the middle distance, lost in thought. What if instead of watching an apple fall he saw a boulder careening down a mountainside? Or simply threw a ball into the air hundreds of times to watch it rise, slow, hang for an inexplicable moment, then drop? Neither of these is as romantic as an apple falling, and the latter is hard work. Would we have the same thoughts about Newton if he came up with his theory about gravity in one of these other ways?
Other little bits struck a chord, like how people make unthinking exclamations in their native language. When I was in study abroad all of my classmates were multi-lingual, and we would joke that the best way to figure out someone's mother tongue is to punch them and see what language they swear at you in. (Not recommended, obvs.)
I didn't understand everything Bán was getting at, but I don't think that's the point. Some stories are a wash of images with a thread of plot, and I enjoyed drawing connections and going where she led me. That being said, some things were over my head. For example, one story is an email correspondence among characters from Dangerous Liaisons. I haven't read the book and was so lost that I ended up moving on to the next piece.
Overall, though, I loved spending time with this collection. It's odd, subversively feminist, and made me look at certain aspects of life in a new light. I took forever to get through the book because I only read one story at a time, often on a long stretch of my commute, and let it rattle around my head for a day or two. Perfect for any fan of weird and wonderful short stories.
Thanks to Open Letter and Edelweiss for providing a review copy.
April 24, 2020
How many bad short stories do you read through in a collection before you decide to just give the whole thing up?
The first story is given a fair shot to impress, the second one too, but if the first two aren't any good, you're going into that third one a bit more warily. And if the third one's bad? Well, in my case you start skimming, and then skipping, until you get to the story about Laika the dog and realize, after reading through that one, that you should have skipped it too.
If you like this sort of thing, you might classify "Night School" as postmodern literature. I would classify it as a serious waste of time.
Why the very well-regarded Hungarian writer Péter Nádas would pen the afterword to this I have no idea, perhaps he felt obligated since he somehow figures as a character in one of these stories.
The concept, as you might be able to gather from the title, is that each story serves as a "lesson." You've got "Geography/history," "French," "Health/Homeland," etc etc etc. The story I was most looking forward to reading, teased on the back of the book, was, as I mentioned earlier, about Laika the dog (the dog the Soviets sent up into space that ended up basically burning to death). That story, entitled "On the Eve of No Return" is the "Russian" lesson (naturally), but it's located at almost the very end of the book, which means you have to first plod through all the other really dreadful stories to get to a story that is also dreadful, but that may have fooled you into reading it thanks to its more intriguing subject matter.
Oh, and there are little thumbnail sized photos on every page of this thing, which, as I was initially flipping through, I thought was cool, sort of Sebaldian, but that in fact serve no purpose at all since many of these photos often have nothing to do with any of the "stories" (if one can call them that). Why they're there is anyone's guess ... to make this whole thing feel more ... postmodern? To divert attention away from how boring it all is?
If these were actual lessons, given at an actual school, of the day or night variety, they deserve a failing grade.
These are classes you're better off skipping.
The first story is given a fair shot to impress, the second one too, but if the first two aren't any good, you're going into that third one a bit more warily. And if the third one's bad? Well, in my case you start skimming, and then skipping, until you get to the story about Laika the dog and realize, after reading through that one, that you should have skipped it too.
If you like this sort of thing, you might classify "Night School" as postmodern literature. I would classify it as a serious waste of time.
Why the very well-regarded Hungarian writer Péter Nádas would pen the afterword to this I have no idea, perhaps he felt obligated since he somehow figures as a character in one of these stories.
The concept, as you might be able to gather from the title, is that each story serves as a "lesson." You've got "Geography/history," "French," "Health/Homeland," etc etc etc. The story I was most looking forward to reading, teased on the back of the book, was, as I mentioned earlier, about Laika the dog (the dog the Soviets sent up into space that ended up basically burning to death). That story, entitled "On the Eve of No Return" is the "Russian" lesson (naturally), but it's located at almost the very end of the book, which means you have to first plod through all the other really dreadful stories to get to a story that is also dreadful, but that may have fooled you into reading it thanks to its more intriguing subject matter.
Oh, and there are little thumbnail sized photos on every page of this thing, which, as I was initially flipping through, I thought was cool, sort of Sebaldian, but that in fact serve no purpose at all since many of these photos often have nothing to do with any of the "stories" (if one can call them that). Why they're there is anyone's guess ... to make this whole thing feel more ... postmodern? To divert attention away from how boring it all is?
If these were actual lessons, given at an actual school, of the day or night variety, they deserve a failing grade.
These are classes you're better off skipping.
December 8, 2019
If this be adulting, then let me adult.
April 3, 2020
This book was NOT at all what I expected, and what it was I just didn't get. I'm usually a fan of postmodern hijinks, but I just could not get into this strange collection of nonsensical short stories. Maybe I missed something? Yes, surely I missed a lot, but I can't bring myself to spend time analyzing this one. Just. Not. For. Me. (Right. Now. At. Least)
Read
February 3, 2021Night School: A Few Scattered Thoughts
- a-HA, I caught this reference
- a-HA, I caught... wait, this might not be a reference
- this sounds like it would probably be a reference, but I don't know the source material
- this is fun
- I can't believe that "jumpy" can be a good thing
- can I call something experimental if it's just how this author writes, and not a "work in which we see what would become her style" or something?
- this is fun
- this is confusing
- the translator needs a raise
- this must be a reference.
Definitely not everyone's cup of tea. I didn't expect it to be mine, either. But there you go.
- a-HA, I caught this reference
- a-HA, I caught... wait, this might not be a reference
- this sounds like it would probably be a reference, but I don't know the source material
- this is fun
- I can't believe that "jumpy" can be a good thing
- can I call something experimental if it's just how this author writes, and not a "work in which we see what would become her style" or something?
- this is fun
- this is confusing
- the translator needs a raise
- this must be a reference.
Definitely not everyone's cup of tea. I didn't expect it to be mine, either. But there you go.
June 26, 2020
Picked this up on a whim. So glad I followed through. Highly recommend
Addendum June 2020: the more I think about this book the more l love it - one of the most zany, fun, and forward-thinking books I’ve read in the past... 3 years? If you’re reading this review you ought to find this book and read it.
Addendum June 2020: the more I think about this book the more l love it - one of the most zany, fun, and forward-thinking books I’ve read in the past... 3 years? If you’re reading this review you ought to find this book and read it.
May 4, 2019
This book is surreal and brilliant and I really can't describe it. It will make you laugh though. It will also sometimes make you upset. Read it.
July 7, 2019
Inventive and playful book of short stories packaged as a multi-subject textbook for adults. Sometimes confusing, but usually not in a frustrating way. Overall a fun read.
August 6, 2019
A delightful read, and the best kind of "teaching", because it subverts all norms while it invites new thinking.
September 15, 2019
Az már régóta foglalkoztatott, hogy milyen lenne, ha az irodalom az könyv helyett munkafüzet. (Persze lettek aztán felnőtt-színezőkönyvek meg mindenféle, de ezek is inkább pszeudo-irodalom, meg self-help háziteszt, ilyesmik.) Úgyhogy az nagyon tetszik, hogy valaki csinált is ilyet, olvasókönyvet felnőtteknek.
Reflektálva van benne az iskolásságra, de pont csak annyira hogy még szórakoztató legyen. Különféle tematikus szekciókra van ugyan bontva (vagyis szellős) és egy csomó tárcaírás vagy stílusgyakorlat vagy micsoda, rövidpróza, szövegminta, egy-egy vagy még több irodalmi, közéleti, közismeretlenebb vagy ismertebb szereplő köré szervezve magát. Játékos darabok mind, még a komolyabbak is (de hát minden játék komoly, csak nem mindig szoktak lenni ellenőrző kérdések és szövegértelmezési feladatok). Egyenként vagy többenként is remekül adagolhatók, és szent meggyőződésem, hogy némelyiket már olvastam, és meg nem mondom mert nem emlékszem, hogy hol. Mindenesetre örültem minden viszontlátásnak is, preszkö-vű.
Sokat köszön* Esterházy Péternek, érzésem szerint. Meg sok mindenkinek, de például az olvasónak aztán folyton integet: hu-úú!** Mozgékony egy munkafüzet, olvasó vagy olvasókönyv vagy miez. Helye mindenféle polcon meg szütyőben.
* (sok? mikor nem sok.)
**Visszainteget egy boldog olvasó, képzeljünk a nyakába úttörőnyakkendőt, bár sosem volt úttörő, de most ez is része a feladatnak.
Reflektálva van benne az iskolásságra, de pont csak annyira hogy még szórakoztató legyen. Különféle tematikus szekciókra van ugyan bontva (vagyis szellős) és egy csomó tárcaírás vagy stílusgyakorlat vagy micsoda, rövidpróza, szövegminta, egy-egy vagy még több irodalmi, közéleti, közismeretlenebb vagy ismertebb szereplő köré szervezve magát. Játékos darabok mind, még a komolyabbak is (de hát minden játék komoly, csak nem mindig szoktak lenni ellenőrző kérdések és szövegértelmezési feladatok). Egyenként vagy többenként is remekül adagolhatók, és szent meggyőződésem, hogy némelyiket már olvastam, és meg nem mondom mert nem emlékszem, hogy hol. Mindenesetre örültem minden viszontlátásnak is, preszkö-vű.
Sokat köszön* Esterházy Péternek, érzésem szerint. Meg sok mindenkinek, de például az olvasónak aztán folyton integet: hu-úú!** Mozgékony egy munkafüzet, olvasó vagy olvasókönyv vagy miez. Helye mindenféle polcon meg szütyőben.
* (sok? mikor nem sok.)
**Visszainteget egy boldog olvasó, képzeljünk a nyakába úttörőnyakkendőt, bár sosem volt úttörő, de most ez is része a feladatnak.
December 28, 2020
Unfortunately, this book was far too avant garde for my taste. The subject selections and encyclopedic elements were loosely executed and deeply unsatisfying. The techniques were innovative at times but caused a visceral shortage of breathing room so the reader could pause on one concept or story. I was glad to have the photographs embedded throughout as the text absolutely needed them to relieve it of some drag self-aggrandizement. This book definitely has an audience and is worthy of one but it's a special bunch that can access such writing.
April 2, 2022
Beautifully done with many photos and interesting illustrations to accompany the essays. The writing is maybe post modern, and I was unable to follow the stories in many instances. However, I really enjoyed the stories that incorporated some of French literature history.
January 4, 2020
DISCUSS in your own words why I could possibly hated this book! Argue pro or con!
February 29, 2020
Alas, this was too weird for me.
July 18, 2021
A collection of creative writing pieces. Some of them were wonderful; others really dragged on. The one about the diving board is my favorite.
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