Life is a Dream

by Gyula Krúdy

Life is a Dream (1931) is Gyula Krudy's magical collection of ten short stories. Creating a world where editors shoot themselves after a hard day's brunching, men attend duels incognito and lovers fall out over salad dressing, Life is a Dream is a comic, nostalgic, romantic and erotic glimpse into the Hungary of the early twentieth century. Focussing on the poor and dispossessed, these tales of love, food, death and sex are ironic and wise about the human condition and the futility of life, and display fully Krudy's wit and mastery of the form.

Genres: Short Stories, Hungary, Hungarian Literature, Fiction, 20th Century, Literary Fiction, Classics

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1931

About the author

Gyula Krúdy was a Hungarian writer and journalist.
Gyula Krúdy was born in Nyíregyháza, Hungary. His father was a lawyer and his mother was a maid working for the aristocratic Krúdy family. His parents did not marry until Gyula was 17 years old. In his teens, Gyula published newspaper pieces and began writing short stories. Although his father wanted him to become a lawyer, Gyula worked as an editor at a newspaper for several years, then moved to Budapest. He was disinherited, but supported his wife (also a writer) and children through the publication of two collections of short stories. Sinbad's Youth, published in 1911, proved a success, and Krudy used the character, a man who shared the name of the hero of the Arabian Nights, many times throughout his career.

Krúdy's novels about Budapest were popular during the First World War and the Hungarian Revolution, but he was often broke due to excessive drinking, gambling and philandering. His first marriage fell apart. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Krúdy's health declined and his readership dwindled. In the years after his death, his works were largely forgotten until 1940, when Hungarian novelist Sándor Márai published Sinbad Comes Home, a fictionalized account of Krúdy's last day. This book's success brought Krúdy's works back to the Hungarian public.

He was called "a Hungarian Proust" by critic Charles Champlin in The New York Times.

Reviews

[Max Berendsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 Stars

These stories didn't really do it for me. I have a feeling that quite a number of subtleties has been lost in translation and this gives the reader a sort of impression of aimlessness.

The stories also contain quite a number of references to Hungarian society and pop culture from the late 19th/early 20th century and the lack of notes in the book continues to leave the reader in the dark at certain points.

I gotta hand it too Krúdy that he was true master of descriptive writing though. This is the main thing that sort of adds a magical element to these stories. Overall its just a bunch of randomness (but once again: this could also be due to the fact that a lot was lost in translation.).

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

i have been reading penguin books in general, and penguin classics in particular for decades,and have rarely been disappointed. i was with this book, however.this book is one of their central european classics, which were published last year. i think they only put out ten titles and that is it.

this book was sort of cobbled together by krudy and won a literary prize in hungary in 1931. it consists of ten short stories and while i have no quibble with any of the stories in particular, the problem is they are mostly all so similar. almost every one of them has as the main character a man who is eating in a tavern, and each story goes on and on about what he is eating, and how much enjoyment he is having, right down to the very last morsel. the problem is, in almost every case, the meal consists of the same items of food...sour lungs, bone marrow, trampled cabbages, sorrel sauce, various soups etc. etc. after about two stories like this, it began to get very tedious, and remained so throughout the entire book, which i did finish. i'm not sure why, because i was basically bored to tears. and it didn't even make me hungry, quite the opposite, in fact.

[Chuck LoPresti · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fact that Deszo Kosztolanyi nominated him for the Hungarian PEN Club should give you indication that you're dealing with an extremely talented writer here. Having spent the last year completely immersed in Hungarian literature I've come to the understanding that "good writer" in Hungary means many things: It means you're a REALLY good writer, you are unknown otherwise, you are not an aloof academic, you seem to think that most people are reading your works in front of a table populated with drinks, food and cigars and you have read just about every Hungarian writer as they have.

Krudy is a major talent with either longer novels or short stories such as these. He has all the style and wit of Antal Szerb but doesn't bother with Szerb's polite restraint or labrynthian intrigues. Krudy is more like Moricz in his observational prowess and Kosztolanyi in his playful style. Krudy is also a bit more fey and crepuscular like Schulz and Kafka at times. Krudy uses food like the Cz. film master Jan Svankmejer to serve as a point of creative departure. If you can recall one of many moustaches soaked in beers and smeared into the back of a hand - you can understand how food/drink works in Krudy.

I will admit a bias in that I love books that involve people loving beer. Rabelais, Kosztolanyi, Erofeev and more promote Benjamin Franklin's notion that "beer is living proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy." Krudy states, "There is a mystery about beer that will never be fathomed by the mind of mere mortals." The same applies to food as is the case in the opening story that involves a man eating the food that he supposes his dueling foe would eat to begin the process of vanquishing and consuming his enemy. It's from the soil up and out with Krudy.

Another Krudy/Svankmeyer point of similarity is the Archimboldo-ness of their comestible considerations, food and drink makes the man and appreciating these component elements of the human form is appreciating life itself.

Krudy is also quite funny whilst being a bit dark - like Schulz and even the Marx Brothers - there is an observational wit to his humor that is hard not to love. If someone told me that Krudy spent his finest moments chasing blonds around fountains and pulling faces over superfluous ill-fitting spectacles I wouldn't be surprised. In fact - if there's a heaven and I get there and I meet Groucho - I am going to attempt to win his favor by lending him (knowing I'll never get it back being the greater part of honor) my collection of Hungarian 20th-Century writers. Any man that loved Ring Lardner, James Farrell and James Thurber would certainly love Moricz, Szerb, Kosztolanyi and Krudy.

This is lighter reading than Krudy's Sunflower (short novel vs. short stories) - but no less magical and enjoyable.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a relatively short book, this took me a very long time to read. It comprises ten short stories that the destitute Hungarian author selected from his own works in order to have something to submit for a prize he'd been told he had a more than good chance of winning (which he did, apparently, but the prize money was shared and distributed over two years and he had to make a contribution to the poor out of it...)

Krudy writes about situations from his own life. One of the characters writes stories for newspapers, as did Krudy. The action - such as it is - is set almost exclusively in taverns, a place where Krudy spent much of his time. The opening story concerns a casino. Krudy was also a gambler... You get the picture. And that's about all there is to it, besides the author's liking for surreal endings. For example, the best story here, 'The Green Ace' ends with one half of a young man's hair, moustache and beard turning "dove white".

I have no problem with books in which nothing much happens (this is true of Bernhard's novels, which I love). What I found hard going was that the bulk of the narrative consisted of tedious descriptions of gourmands' lunches and alcoholics' benders. It was of passing interest to learn about Hungarian inn cuisine of the early 20th century - sour lungs, pickled cabbage, beef on the bone and gravy play a huge part in it - but this story ingredient was boiled to death. For all that, some of the descriptions were pleasing, such as the following example:

"Mushrooms just happen to be born old, for they have a chance to mull things over before they emerge from the soil, whether it's in the cellar, the greenhouse or the woods. Yes, mushrooms are little old men even as the forester's laughing daughters stumble upon them after a rainy night."

This collection feels very old fashioned compared to other writing that was coming out of Hungary at the time (the work of Frigyes Karinthy, for example). Apparently Krudy wrote several novels before his writing fell out of favour in the 1920s and 30s. On this reading, I can't say I'd be greatly tempted by them, even if I could get hold of copies.

[Celia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life is a Dream is a collection of 10 short stories about Hungarian culture, taverns and eating... lots of eating!!

Life is not necessarily always a dream, though. By story, here is what life is about:

Last Cigar at the Grey Arabian
... an impending dual, a meal and a cigar.

The Journalist and Death
... an impending dual and nerves and some eating too

The Waiter’s Nightmare
... a man who cannot stop eating

The Landlady, or the Bewitched Guests
... a trampled cabbage (or two)

The Undead (A latter-day Szindbad tale)
... the hero dies under 'peculiar' circumstances

The Apostle of Heavenly Scents
... a nose which changes shape and color and can determine the smell of just about every food and drink

Betty, Nursemaid of the Editorial Office
... an editor who changes his lunch meal because he is entranced with what a fellow diner is eating

The Green Ace
... a very long story with not that much food

One Glass of Borovichka and Its Consequences
... a drink with dire consequences (the title pretty much says it all)

The Ejected Patron
... wherever he goes, he cannot pay his bill

I wanted to read at last one book by a Hungarian author and selected this. It is supposed to be a classic, but I had not heard of it or its author. I have read that some of his other books are much better. Something to consider for the future.

[mon!ka · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're reading Krudy for the first time and deciding between 'Sunflower' or this book of short stories, go for 'Sunflower'.

This collection of short stories leaves something to be desired. It lacks the kind of dreamy and descriptive voice that hypnotized me in 'Sunflower'. Out of all the stories the most Krudyesque passages were the ones about old Taban in 'The Green Ace'. I found myself highlighting several long chunks of text in that one.

The stories also leave you hungry on another level. If you're a foodie you will appreciate the endless gastro-science, especially if you're a true carnivore. You'll crave Hungarian dishes, travel to several cafes serving a dizzying amount of food, learn about the art of cabbage-trampling, properly spear your bread with a knife, meet the inn keepers and waiters...

"People had only one desire in life, to sit down at a comfortable table in a restaurant and eat their way through the items listed on the menu".

I think Krudy must have written these stories while eating in these very places. Wandering from restaurant to cafe. Stuffing himself full of cracklings and red peppers. Staining his notebooks with ink, pork fat and bread crumbs.

[kymdotcom · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's cabbage everywhere. Entire stories entirely about cabbage. It turns out that Krudy is utterly fixated with food, and not just cabbage. Every single story describes at least one meal in as seductive a manner as he can come up with, and in some cases the stories themselves are just a mere vehicle for descriptions of food. It would have driven me utterly mad with longing, except that Krudy was describing Hungarian delicacies such as sour lungs and cabbage.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

10000% Krúdy, precies in de sfeer van Blessed Days of My Youth. Niet lezen als je honger hebt.

Per abuis plots beginnen raten op tien, niet op letten

Last Cigar at the Grey Arabian 7/10

The Journalist and Death 6,5/10

The Waiter’s Nightmare 7/10

The Landlady, or the Bewitched Guests 5/10

The Undead 5,5/10

The Apostle of Heavenly Scents 5,5/10

Betty, Nursemaid of the Editorial Office 5/10

The Green Ace 8/10

Langste kortverhaal - novelle van de bundel. Over liefde en alcohol (liefde door alcohol), uniek en memorabel (helaas ook de enige).

“He was an old man who could only use words to corrupt women, as if intending to leave no soul innocent in the world - a habit of those men who even with their dying words desire to pervert, hoping for more company in hell.”

One Glass of Borovichka and Its Consequences 6/10

The Ejected Patron 7/10

[Jeremiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Krudy's stories, the divide between the dead and living seems to be almost in name or label only: dead men carry on affairs, living people spend all their time eating and drinking in taverns. Nothing separates them; some are just dead, some are not.

Yes, there is a lot of eating in this collection, and yes, it can feel repetitive. But there are some standout stories, as well as a quality of writing throughout, lusty and lyrical, for which credit goes both to Krudy and to John Batki, the translator. Here's a sentence from "The Undead," one of his Szindbad stories (say it aloud): "Crickety-creak went the cart carrying the dead man, but no farmer with a young wife to guard grabbed the pitchfork at the approach of the wayward gentleman...Yet here and there light still streamed from the small rooms of a house in some hamlet, like the eyes of young girls kept open by curiosity even at night."

Here's another, from "The Apostle of Heavenly Scents," following Nyergesujfalusi (Google translates this name to "sad new village"), a man who is losing all his faculties except for his sense of smell, and whose nose seems to change appearance, at times phallicly, as the story progresses: "Here comes this snout rushing, clad in the trappings of a pious pilgrim, accompanied by princely lies, as is the custom of old men who in their dotage would like to embrace every bowl of soup in the world. In view of the fact that at the time several inexperienced young females were staying in the house, I had to send Nyergesujfalusi packing."

Here's one more, from "The Green Ace," the longest story in the book, a novella, really: "Bitchkey, in his drunken stupor, had hanged himself by means of his belt on a crabapple tree, and his bodily attire, footwear and foot-rags hung down and trailed from his stiffly extended legs, just as they had when the crabapple tree was cut down to the roots. Now the dead man was being hauled away to the place where suicides are buried, together with his tree, for nobody dared to cut down the hanged man's rope."

I'll leave these lines without much comment; like it or don't. I like him a lot.

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Men are so weird -- you can't believe them even when they're dead... And who knows, perhaps Szindvad up and died just to be free of Terka."

[Rhys · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are ten stories in this collection and six of them I didn't care too much for. Nonetheless I still regard it as an excellent book for the four good stories. First of all, I like Krúdy's style a lot; it is warm and immersive and rather convoluted in a pleasant way. As for the subject matter, there is a tendency to talk too much about food, especially foods I am not at all interested in. But food is what connects these separate stories into something resembling a themed suite, so perhaps I was unwise to expect a greater range of topics in these pages.

The best story in this collection is the longest, 'The Green Ace', an exquisite novella and one of the few stories here not to be primarily concerned about food. It is gothic and dreamlike, very strange and mordant, humorous and romantic. Truly a great example of Central European offbeat literature. I also thoroughly enjoyed 'Last Cigar at the Grey Arabian' and 'The Journalist and Death', which are closely linked tales that are almost Kafkaesque in their grim but blasé absurdity, and 'The Undead (A latter-day Szindbad tale)', which is a curious ghost story.

[Assaf Talgam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of short stories, mostly funny and centered around food, wine and taverns. Krúdy's descriptions really worked up my appetite! Some stories definitely deserve 5 stars, but a few were a bit long-winded. Recommended for lovers of food and Hungary!

[Massimina Ferny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry, but this was one of those really abstract, fantastical compilations I didn't understand, though I would think that the author loves food, in particular fine dining a lot, because a lot of the stories involve very elaborate descriptions of hearty Eastern European food (in particular meats, stews and soups).

I completely was lost for this book. And it didn't help that I waited for this book a long time, even failing to get it once when I went to the library just for it, and the second time paying to reserve it. Too far out for my simple mind, and I felt even worse reading about the fact that the author was living in poverty with his family most of his life and even had to self-publish this book to submit it for a an award. in the end, he spent most of his prize money on publication and all its peripherals...

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life is a Dream, apparently the last book of Krudy's published in his lifetime, is a bit of a letdown after Sindbad and Sunflower. We have lots of description of people eating and drinking and preparing food - cabbage, marrow, sour lungs, noodle soup, etc.), but not so much the insight into our dreams, desires, and wickedness that Krudy displayed in his other books, nor the fantastical prose excursions they engendered. There are still hilarious descriptions of people, but aside from some ironies about people's deluded certainties about where their lives are headed, and the accompanying judgments about the people around them, in the first two stories, these stories don't really have much meat on the bones.

[Elliot Smoke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories, many of which can't really be called 'stories', examining the lives of working Hungarians through the food they are served and eat. The proliferation of broths, marrow bones and sour lungs give the collection a really earthy feeling, with many pieces not resolving and the imminent and sometimes actual presence of death giving the book a dreamy quality. Ten stories do give a feeling of being a 'bit samey', with the longer "The Green Ace" particularly meandering, but some lovely atmospherics along the way.

[Nienke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nope, couldn’t do it, could not finish.

This never ending description of food, waiters and men that think they are super interesting was like flat beer. But contrary to one character in this collection of tediously long short stories, I do not like flat beer.

One tip for those who will try, the first story was a tad bit less boring that the 5 I read afterwards, so if you already do not like that one, put the book aside, find something really tasty to drink and eat while you ponder what to read next. You’re welcome :)

[Clive Lillie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories by a renowned Hungarian writer. Usually convening bars and characters in them.

I found the storytelling a little laden, and without direction . I became less caring for the characters, and felt the opportunity to create old Budapest was missed.

I bought this book to read whilst I was in Budapest, and it became clear that the sim of the stories was not to evoke Budapest as I hoped.

[Geourska · Rating 2 out of 5]

I very rarely do not finish books but I just could not get through this one. The first story was good, the rest were mediocre. By the end, I couldn't fathom reading yet another story about various dishes of food at a restaurant, which seemed to be the going theme for most of the stories, and I just gave up. If you like reading detailed accounts about sour lungs, then these are good stories. Otherwise, I'd suggest reading the first and skipping the rest.

[Javahir · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t manage to read this one until the end as it was a bit hard to follow. I feel like some nuances were lost in translation and it was not clear where each story was going and what it meant a to convey. Can’t say I had any particular strong feelings about this book/stories.

[Lukas Pasteka · Rating 4 out of 5]

19th century foodie writes a book of short stories.

[Luis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, funny and poignant collection of short stories mostly about food and drink, imagine Proust's Remembrance of things past in enjoyable, bite-sized chunks.

[Kassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as oneiric as the title led me to hope. The author is better at describing food than he is at describing women. Each story left me feeling hungry for goulash.

[Eitan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and funny. Full of memorable characters, scenes, and details.

[Eric Bruen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not a foodie.
I have friends (Philip and Binh are not on here so they won't mind me naming them) who get excited about buffets, who post photos of their meals on facebook, who when I travel will always inquire enthusiastically about the cuisine, when I plan on visiting home will assume I can't wait for some of my mother's home cooked meals, always promise to have me over for this or that new recipe they've tried out and I'm slightly relieved when the invitation doesn't materialize...meh, I like a good chicken burger.
These gastro-centric stories were not for me. They were as excruciatingly tedious as looking through Philip and Binh's holiday photos and seeing what they had for breakfast lunch and dinner for 10 days.

[Susie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of short stories, all with a strong focus on food. I've read 6 of the stories and enjoyed 4 of them. (I was reading this for a course which required the reading of 4 of the stories, and didn't have time to read more than 6 stories. Something to come back to, later on.) The interesting aspect for me is the quirky endings of many of these stories, and the commentary on life and position in life. The food descriptions didn't do much for me, however we saw part of the film in class, and the food aspect was a lot more enjoyable there, so I believe that someone who is better able to translate the written words into images of these foods would thoroughly enjoy that aspect.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, a book very much about food. Food so tantalizingly written that drool unconsciously forms around the corners of one's mouth. It takes a truly great writer to arouse such appetites for what, upon closer inspection and remembrance of context, is more a nightmare than a dream

[Yasemine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read "Last Cigar at the Grey Arabian". It was seemingly confusing at first and also felt really pointless but the story relies on this idea of being someone you're not which is why it felt pointless.

[Mira]

Full review forthcoming at The Short Review

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of short stories most of which revolve around taverns and food. Some wonderful description of food. Very odd...

[Gabriela · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well written book, with bits and pieces of Budapest life.