Be Faithful Unto Death
Zsigmond Moricz
Translated with an introduction by Stephen Vizinczey
The moving story of Misi, a bright and sensitive schoolboy
growing up in a long-established boarding school in
the city of Debrecen in eastern Hungary, who is falsely
accused of stealing a winning lottery ticket.
First published in 1921, the novel is brimming with
vivid detail from the provincial life that Móricz knew
so well and shot through with a sense of the tragic
fate of a newly truncated Hungary. The universal quality
of the experience captured here, as well as the author's
uncanny ability to rediscover for us precisely what
it feels like to be that child, makes this portrait
of the artist as a young boy not merely a Hungarian
but a European classic.
"Be Faithful Unto Death" is a classic
in Hungary; nearly every Hungarian has read it. A foreigner
wanting to understand the Hungarian psyche would be
well-advised to read it as well. The contemporary Hungarian
attitude is quintessentially distilled in this novel.
One of the finest depictions of of child's coming of
age that I have ever read. The book should not be taken
as indicative of Hungarian mentality, but it does reflect
the tragic tone of the Hungarian society at the time
the book was written: just after World War One.
I love Moricz`s style, and the way he captures the
fragility of our existence. A great book."- Amazon
(extracts from readers' online reviews)
1996
332 pages
ISBN 978-1-85866-060-8 paperback $17.95 / €13.95
/ £12.99
Published in the series:
Central
European Classics / CEU Press Classics
ISSN 1418-0162
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