Zwiesprache.

by Péter Nádas, Richard Swartz

Zwei Freunde, der ungarische Schriftsteller Péter Nádas und derschwedische Journalist Richard Swartz, suchen 1989 in einem vier Tagedauernden Gespräch wechselseitig zu ergründen, welchen verschiedenenPrägungen sie unterworfen waren, durch die sie sich als »Ostmensch« und»Westmensch« voneinander unterscheiden. Freimütig kommt Privates zurSprache, werden Empfindlichkeiten spürbar, wenn es Begriffe wie Nation,Demokratie oder gesellschaftliche Zielsetzungen zu klären gilt. EinZwiegespräch, das eine Fülle überraschender Einsichten eröffnet.

238 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Hungarian novelist, essayist, and dramatist, a major central European literary figure. Nádas made his international breakthrough with the monumental novel A Book of Memories (1986), a psychological novel following the tradition of Proust, Thomas Mann, and magic realism.

Péter Nádas was born in Budapest, as the son of a high-ranking party functionary. Nádas's grandfather, Moritz Grünfeld, changed his name into Hungarian, which was considered a scandal in the family. Nádas's youth was shadowed by the loss of his parents. Nádas's mother died of cancer when he was young and his father committed suicide. At the age of 16 his uncle gave him a camera, and after dropping out of school Nádas turned to photojournalism. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he worked as an editor, reader, and drama consultant. After the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Nádas quit his job as a journalist and devoted himself to literature. "I resigned, walked out, and turned my back on the system to save my soul," he later said.