Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Last year we read They Were Counted by the Hungarian author Miklós Bánffy .
This was the first book in his Transylvanian Trilogy.
This month we are reading book two, They Were Found Wanting .

We will be reading the third book in the trilogy, They Were Divided, as a Buddy Read later this year.

The author begins this novel with a preface, from the Old Testament Book of Daniel, Chapter 5.

And the first word that was written in letters of fire on the wall of the King's palace was MENE- The Lord hath numbered thy Kingdom.

But none could see the writing because they were drunken with much wine, and they called out in their great drunkenness to bring out the vessels of gold and silver that their ancestors had laid up in the Temple of the House of God, and they brought forth the vessels and drank wine from them and increased in their drunkenness and madness.

And the Lord's vessels were wasted among them as they abused each other and quarrelled over their own gods, each man praising his gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood and clay.

And as they drank and quarrelled among themselves the fiery hand wrote in flaming letters upon the plaster of the wall of the King's palace. And the second word was TEKEL- Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting.

I have already finished the book. I was planning to start early and finish it by mid-January, but I read it much faster because I was really enjoying it.
I thought the preface was interesting because it showed the origins of the titles.
But after having finished the book, I realize that the preface means so much more.

Very interesting, Rosemarie. I'm starting the book very soon. I have a Kindle ebook. I'll see how that compares.

MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN :)

Jazzy, in book one, the author used only MENE.
In the second he added TEKEL.
In the third, which I haven't seen yet, I predict he will also use
UPHARSIN.
These books are set in the last few years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. And most of us know how that ended.
My grandfather was born in Transylvania, Austro Hungary.
My mother was born in the same place, Birk, Transylvania. The town still exists but you won't find that name on modern maps.

I have started it and while I am very much enjoying it. I have found I've forgotten much of the first volume already, Attempts to refresh my recollection are made difficult because there is no readily available plot summary - the trilogy is more of a 'niche' read than I thought. Wikipedia doesn't even have an entry for anything except the author. They Were Counted has less than 1000 Goodreads ratings

I have gotten some memory 'refreshment' from reading other Goodreads readers' comments of They Were Counted, so I think I now have sufficient reminders, especially on Adrienne's story.

On with the show. Unlike some of the commentors, I do enjoy the political aspects along with the books' other themes and plots.

I have forgotten parts of the first book too, Brian, but as I’ve gotten through chapter 4, the author fills in what happened before by the use of characters’ musings about their lives.

Thanks for the encouragement, Kathy. I finished chapter 3 and I feel have a grasp on the characters now, and more events came back to me after the scenes with the conniving Azbej and the strong-willed Countess. There's a good variety of characters in these books.

Azbej makes me think of Uriah Heep from David Copperfield.

Rosemarie wrote: "Azbej makes me think of Uriah Heep from David Copperfield."

Aah! True, but the Countess is very strong-willed, more so than Mr. Wickfield. We shall see how the Countess and Azbej relationship develops. For now, she sees him as a weapon in her arsenal and doesn't realize how much he considers himself a force on his own, with his own henchmen in place.

The Countess' two housekeepers, Mrs Tothy and Mrs Baczo, run to Azbej with any information they find out in the house.

One problem is that my volume of They Were Found Wanting is a 2009 edition for Arcadia Press and not the 2016 edition as my other 2 are.
I got it from Amazon, but from an independent selling on Amazon and didn't realize it wouldn't be the same as the others volumes since it was the same publisher, Arcadia Books. I didn't check publishing dates so thought that was the only edition available and didn't return it. Also, Amazon had it under the cover picture for the 2016 edition. This 2009 edition doesn't have the maps, character index or bookmark the first volume edition had. I have gone back to the first volume for its character list and map. It will help.

I am reading the ebook edition published by Arcadia Books in 2000 and revised in 2016. I love the map and character lists. I read this version of which didn't have these.

Rosemarie wrote: "Jazzy, in book one, the author used only MENE.
In the second he added TEKEL.
In the third, which I haven't seen yet, I predict he will also use
UPHARSIN.
These books are set in the last few years o..."

He will. That's where he got the titles from.
I looked at the three books for sale but they are a bit pricy :)

I am reading a library copy, Jazzy.

Rosemarie wrote: "I am reading a library copy, Jazzy."

Yes i keep hearing about those magical libraries that have books.
We're out of luck here, unfortunately.

I am blessed to live in Toronto, which has the busiest library system in North America. It has 100 branches spread throughout the city, as well as a reference library downtown.

I really want to read this trilogy and my library has all 3 books as ebooks so I am going to start on book 1 and come back to the thread when I pick up book 2.
So many great books I want to read this year.

That's great news, Tracey. The first book is really good too.

FINISHED CHAPTER 2 OF PART 2

As Kathy noted, the character's musings have provided some insight into what happened in the first Volume. As I remember more and more, such as the Wickwitz character plot line, I realize how much happened in They Were Counted.
While I enjoy the character list, I wish there was a better map in the book showing where they are in Transylvania when in the rural areas away from Koloscvar (now called Clu-Napoca). Checking current maps provides only confusion as the city and village names have changed from their Hungarian ones to newer Romanian names.

SPOILERS - I especially enjoyed the scene where Abady is confronted by Uzdy expecting a grilling, assault or worse and instead finds that Uzdy is just looking for a receptive ear for his non-decimal proposal, which bases things on twelve rather than ten. Besides the smiles it provided, I also realized I must be a little off since his proposal almost made sense to me,

FINISHED PART 3 - SPOILERS
Some Comments:
1. I do enjoy the Uzdy character and his mother, too. It's nice to have villains and he is a mercurial and interesting one. I thought the side scenes of the Margit/Adam and Crookface/Laszlo relationships were charming and well done.
2. There was a mention of a north German accent that reminds me of Rosemarie's comments, maybe from Effie Briest about Tony from Buddenbrooks' husbands, regarding the difficulty in capturing characters' various German accents in translations. The stuff I learn about here - I had never considered that various German accents existed or the difficulty in capturing that in translations.
3. I am reading this leisurely. One problem I have is that my text has very small print, smaller than in They Were Counted and my eyes get tired. Advantage goes to Kindle on this point. However, I just love the feel of the very sturdy paper stock in this edition, so advantage goes to print.
4. But it is also a leisurely read because I'm enjoying it so much that I do want to savor it and not rush it. The political and romance stories together remind me of Trollope but on a more epic scale like a Russian novel, like War & Peace or Doctor Zhivago but with more enjoyable writing. As Banffy is a politician/bureaucrat, I would not expect that he could do the romance aspect so well.

I was thinking of Trollope's political books as well. The politics in this book are based on actual happenings that had dire consequences for some people and countries.
I agree that this isn't a book to rush through; there are a lot of important details that could be overlooked. I also enjoy spending time with the characters, even if they are mixed up or crazy.

FINISHED PART 4 - SPOILERS
1. In another Trollopian similarity, this Part included a lengthly description of a hunt, though for a hare rather than a fox, something I wasn't familiar with. Wikipedia describes hare hunts under the term 'beagling' and says they are conducted similar to fox hunts but was done with beagles, harriers or bassets in the UK and Ireland. The hunts appear to be limited now under the 2004 Hunting Act.
2. The political events preceeding the Great War are becoming more prominent. They are interesting to me, especially seeing things from the point of view of Transylvanians.
3. I do enjoy the romantic, sometimes almost erotic, parts of the novels, and like the introduction of new partners or possible partners for the cousins.

I read a short story by a 19th Austrian author who described a similar hunt, but the slaughter in that one was even worse. I think it was Adalbert Stifter, but I could be wrong.

I finished Part 4, 70% done. Who does Banffy compare to in all he writes about the lives of the upper classes in Hungary? Hunts, romance (a hunt also...), descriptive settings, large houses/castles, politics (all that goes on in The Corridor!), the coming of war....

I haven't read any significant Trollope, so is Banffy similar?

Banffy is similar in that he combines politics with the plot, like in Trollope's Palliser novels.
My favourite novels by Trollope are the Barsetshire novels, beginning with The Warden.

Thanks, Rosemarie! I have a copy of The Warden ready and waiting.

The second book in the series, Barchester Towers, has many of the same characters, plus some new interesting ones.

While I too have compared Banffy and Trollope in subject matter, there is a difference in gravity. I love Trollope, but I feel comfort in his world, as his plots seem more insular to the people and the area involved, be it Barchester or England. I enjoy Trollope's wit and insights into these people.
With the trilogy, I feel I am looking at stories about both a way of life and a governing system, but also the mechanisms and events that will spur the ending of both. This trilogy often depicts the Austrian/Hungarian/Romanian conflicts within the Hungarian area. There are also references to relations with Serbian, Bosnian, Slovakian, Russian, Italian, German and other peoples, areas, and countries.
While I feel the trilogy is a more serious and even poignant work, it may just be that I'm just so much more familiar with Victorian England than Austro-Hungary and the Balkans at the turn of the 19th/20th century.
As I mentioned before, I see a bit of Tolstoy and Pasternak in the trilogy, although it may just be that everybody is a Count or Countess. In style, Banffy seems more lushly descriptive than Trollope.

Since we know the Austro-Hungarian Empire ended, there is that sense of forboding about Banffy's trilogy.

Kathy wrote: "Since we know the Austro-Hungarian Empire ended, there is that sense of forboding about Banffy's trilogy."

Yes, there was no The Empire Strikes Back for that empire.

FINISHED

It ended about how I thought. (view spoiler)[ The most surprising element of the story to me is that divorce laws are such that you can't divorce a mentally ill institutialized spouse. Thus, Andy's demise, which one would think would benefit her, is actually the worst outcome for her. Instead, the detestable mother-in-law is the only winner. (hide spoiler)]
Can't wait to start Book three.

That's how I feel, Brian. But not until I finish Romola, which is a different kind of book entirely-very rich in historical detail and a slow-moving plot in part one.

I think I have several other books scheduled to read in January and February, including Romola, but I will probably get to They Were Divided soon afterwards.

I can set up a Buddy Read thread maybe in March?

March or April work for me for They Were Divided.

Rosemarie wrote: "I can set up a Buddy Read thread maybe in March?"

Sounds good to me. My brain should be able to store the previous characters and plot points for about 6 or 7 weeks and there is the Character Index to reflect my recollection. That's about the length of my longest break between volumes with the other trilogies I've read in the past three years, Kristin Lavransdatter, The Country Girls Trilogy, The Campus Trilogy and Plainsong Trilogy

I know what you mean, Brian.
I will set it up for March.

Rosemarie wrote: "I know what you mean, Brian.
I will set it up for March."

Do you still plan to set up a Buddy Read for They Were Divided this month or have plans changed? I'm in for something this month and definitely plan to read it before May as, besides continuing with Trollope and Lorna Doone, I have Beware of Pity, Mill on the Floss and Joseph and His Brothers penciled in for probable May reads.

Brian, I just placed it on hold and will let you know when it comes in. The library has 4 copies and no holds so I should have next week.
Where did January and February go?
I'll set up the Buddy Read thread once I have my copy.

I have my ebook of They Were Divided, but will finish House of Mirth and Lysistrata first.

Great, Kathy!