Cleveland Plain Dealer // Love and Other Stories by Tibor Déry
'Love' stories show how war affects civilians
Andrew Ervin
Special to The Plain Dealer
Born in Budapest in 1894, Tibor Déry suffered through some of the worst tumult of the 20th century and survived long enough to record them in a series of novels, poems, plays and short stories.
As a Bolshevik, his support of the Communists who rose to power in 1919 landed him in prison when they were overthrown. He spent the war years in hiding, afraid his part-Jewish heritage would become public. Although still devoted to the ideals of socialism, his actions against the Soviets during the 1956 uprising led him back to jail. Despite his political activities, or because of them, Déry was first and foremost an artist - one of the highest caliber.
"Love and Other Stories" contains six tales plus the centerpiece novella, "Games of the Underworld," set toward the end of World War II when Russia and Germany battled ferociously for control of Budapest. (Krisztian Ungary's newly translated "The Siege of Budapest: 100 Days in World War II" offers a stellar historical account of this nightmarish time and makes for a valuable companion volume to Déry's stories.)
In detailing the day-to-day struggles in the city's vast network of underground shelters, Déry delivers what I believe to be the single best literary depiction of civilian life during war. Based on his firsthand experience hiding from pro-Nazi troops, these stories are felt as much as read. A group of cellar dwellers unites to protect a stray horse from those who want to eat it, yet only one young girl is bold enough to step forward in protest when the pro-Nazi forces begin marching Jews out of the city.
The title story and "Behind the Brick Wall" also expose the emotional toll that political events can take on individual lives. "Reckoning," in which an elderly professor feels compelled to make a mad, dangerous dash for the border to flee his homeland and its internal strife, will sound familiar to any of us with Hungarians in the family. These are often gut-wrenchingly sad stories, the epiphanies muted, but Déry's mastery of the form rivals that of the 20th century's acknowledged masters, including James Joyce or Witold Gombrowicz or Franz Kafka.
Now, the bad news. Despite a lucid, informative introduction by poet and translator George Szirtes, this collection suffers from a lack of unity and context. We're given no way of knowing when Déry wrote all of these stories or how they fit into the larger picture of international letters. And with six translators in the mix, the prose can be uneven. But make no mistake, "Love and Other Stories" provides a welcome glimpse into the world of this sublime Hungarian master.
It will leave readers happy but longing for a more definitive treatment in English.
Andrew Ervin
Special to The Plain Dealer
Born in Budapest in 1894, Tibor Déry suffered through some of the worst tumult of the 20th century and survived long enough to record them in a series of novels, poems, plays and short stories.
As a Bolshevik, his support of the Communists who rose to power in 1919 landed him in prison when they were overthrown. He spent the war years in hiding, afraid his part-Jewish heritage would become public. Although still devoted to the ideals of socialism, his actions against the Soviets during the 1956 uprising led him back to jail. Despite his political activities, or because of them, Déry was first and foremost an artist - one of the highest caliber.
"Love and Other Stories" contains six tales plus the centerpiece novella, "Games of the Underworld," set toward the end of World War II when Russia and Germany battled ferociously for control of Budapest. (Krisztian Ungary's newly translated "The Siege of Budapest: 100 Days in World War II" offers a stellar historical account of this nightmarish time and makes for a valuable companion volume to Déry's stories.)
In detailing the day-to-day struggles in the city's vast network of underground shelters, Déry delivers what I believe to be the single best literary depiction of civilian life during war. Based on his firsthand experience hiding from pro-Nazi troops, these stories are felt as much as read. A group of cellar dwellers unites to protect a stray horse from those who want to eat it, yet only one young girl is bold enough to step forward in protest when the pro-Nazi forces begin marching Jews out of the city.
The title story and "Behind the Brick Wall" also expose the emotional toll that political events can take on individual lives. "Reckoning," in which an elderly professor feels compelled to make a mad, dangerous dash for the border to flee his homeland and its internal strife, will sound familiar to any of us with Hungarians in the family. These are often gut-wrenchingly sad stories, the epiphanies muted, but Déry's mastery of the form rivals that of the 20th century's acknowledged masters, including James Joyce or Witold Gombrowicz or Franz Kafka.
Now, the bad news. Despite a lucid, informative introduction by poet and translator George Szirtes, this collection suffers from a lack of unity and context. We're given no way of knowing when Déry wrote all of these stories or how they fit into the larger picture of international letters. And with six translators in the mix, the prose can be uneven. But make no mistake, "Love and Other Stories" provides a welcome glimpse into the world of this sublime Hungarian master.
It will leave readers happy but longing for a more definitive treatment in English.
posted by Andrew Ervin at
7/24/2005
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home