| CARVIEW |
Select Language
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 03:07:09 GMT
Server: Apache
Cache-Control: no-cache, private
X-RateLimit-Limit: 20
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 19
Content-Language: en
Set-Cookie: XSRF-TOKEN=eyJpdiI6IjBmMWFzb2JNZTFFenhNQXRuTVBkZnc9PSIsInZhbHVlIjoid09MTFRLaDhSZlBiK2ttWXVrcHlVOWFYc21McUtzSjNwaDVFcGtHN1ZIY1wvNlhzXC94NlwvYjI5a0NOZkNUTzYwSyIsIm1hYyI6IjU3ZTVkZTI3NTIyZGYwMjVjMjMzNzc1ODc0ZGY1NWExZTNiMGQwNjQ5MDQ3OGJjNTJlNDhhZWZhOTM3NTY3NWYifQ%3D%3D; expires=Fri, 23-Jan-2026 05:07:10 GMT; Max-Age=7200; path=/
Set-Cookie: literafe_session=eyJpdiI6IlR1U2k4UzdRVTVTTFhoUTN4a3Y2Nnc9PSIsInZhbHVlIjoiVDV5R0dPUjFZdGdFd0NUVjllZDdDNFd6a3FJNk13NDhqZ2dQV3BcL3BZaTZoT2M1bzNDdEFwY3F0bk5CckxqWCsiLCJtYWMiOiIxNzYzMzViZTk0YzJmYmIzYWUzYmUzMGRlMDFkMTA1MmM4MDRkY2I0YjYxNzc5MzEyZDVkNDQwMDkyZTliZGVhIn0%3D; expires=Fri, 23-Jan-2026 05:07:10 GMT; Max-Age=7200; path=/; httponly
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Content-Encoding: gzip
Content-Length: 9695
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
hlo.hu - Hungarian Literature Online
Name? Hungarian history. Nationality? Hungarian, he screamed, and it sounded as if hundreds of virgin cadets were swearing in. Could you say it a bit less loudly, I ask him. So he whispers like a dying person: Hungarian. Then I say, couldn’t you just say it naturally? Like, Hungarian. But that’s too difficult. To be natural. To pretend that it doesn’t hurt, that it doesn’t vex; that it isn’t annoying, isn’t too tight. Hungarian. That’s what there is. And that’s enough. Too much even. Too little.
“I have to go to Nowhere Land so that I’m as empty and receptive to the new story as the blank paper before me. When my legs are shaking, when I’m afraid I don’t know the first thing about writing – that’s when I’m ready.” – We present the first instalment of the Workshop Diary, written by Anna Moskát and translated by Austin Wagner, which reflects on the paralysing yet vital break between books.
Ilka Papp-Zakor: Ghost Story
“Nothing in the world is certain,” she informed me with satisfaction, “but that life is shit, there is no God, and we’re all going to die.” – A whimsical short story on family and loss, by Ilka Papp-Zakor in Silvia Zeamer's translation.
A Traveler’s Guide to Hisztéria üzenőfüzete
"Hysteria is both ironic and visceral here: ironic because we understand that what was called “hysteria” seventy or eighty years ago would be diagnosed and treated differently today; and visceral because of the play’s loud noises, flashing lights, pale faces, split identities, and abrupt action." – Diana Senechal offers an English-friendly guide to another Hungarian theatre highlight. Hisztéria üzenőfüzete, directed by Simon Regős, is showing at the Bethlen Téri Színház on 29-31 January.
George Szirtes on Translating Krasznahorkai
“I’m still not entirely sure to what degree the reading of Hungarian, the translation of Hungarian, and the speaking of Hungarian influenced what I did [as a writer]. But I do know that the poems I translated, I learned from them. You can’t help, you are essentially learning other people’s voices and other people’s habits of speech and other people’s idiosyncrasies.” – Poet and translator George Szirtes discussed translating László Krasznahorkai at a literary event in London.
Krisztina Tóth in Conversation with Lucy Popescu in London
Krisztina Tóth will be talking to Lucy Popescu about her novel Eye of the Monkey, translated by Ottilie Mulzet, on 29 January in Islington, London.
New Release: Under a Pannonian Sky – Ten Women Poets from Hungary
Edited by Ottilie Mulzet and published by Seagull Books, the upcoming anthology is a collection of poems by Hungarian women poets in English translation.
Filmmaker Béla Tarr Dies Aged 70
Béla Tarr, one of the most significant and internationally recognized figures in Hungarian cinema, director of Family Nest, Satantango, Werckmeister Harmonies, and The Turin Horse, has passed away at the age of 70.
New Release: Popular Music and the Secret Service in Hungary by Tamás Szőnyei
Tamás Szőnyei's new English-language account of how the Hungarian secret service sought to oppress dissent in popular music in post-war socialist Hungary, Popular Music and the Secret Service in Hungary, 1945–1990: Records, Files and Uncovered Stories, is now available through Routledge.
Three Poems from the Play Majd ha fagy!
As an accompaniment to our latest Traveler's Guide by Diana Senechal, we offer up three poems that feature in the play Majd ha fagy! in Senechal's stunning translation, and originally written by homeless writers Lajos Szappanos, Lalalilla, and Árpád Herceg, who were published by Fedél Nélkül, an organization that has been publishing homeless artists since 1993.
A Traveler's Guide to Majd ha fagy!
We start the new year off by continuing our Traveler's Guide series with Diana Senechal. Next up, she introduces Majd ha fagy! – neoreneszánsz rally (“When It Freezes! – Neo-Renaissance Rally”), created and directed by Zoltán Sas and Dávid Kerek, produced by SICC, and with source material drawn from Renaissance songs in five languages combined with poetry and prose from Fedél Nélkül (“Roofless – The Homeless’ Journal”), a Budapest street paper by homeless artists. Next performance is on 13 January, so get your tickets soon.
Attila József: Four Poems
We are pleased to share four Attila József poems from the upcoming volume The Song of the Cosmos, translated into English by Ágnes Lehóczky and Adam Piette and slated for release in 2026 by Shearsman Books.
Foreword to New Attila József Volume: The Song of the Cosmos
In preparation for the 2026 release of a new selection of Attila József's poems, translated into English by Ágnes Lehóczky and Adam Piette and published by Shearsman Books, we're pleased to share with you Lehóczky's foreword to the volume of this poet whose work is "surrealist, quasi anarchist, existentialist, Villonesque, tough-minded, deeply drenched in Hungarian folklore and folk songs, passionate, lyrical, elegiac..."
New Release: The Song of the Cosmos – Selected Poems of Attila József
A selection of József Attila’s poems, translated to English by Ágnes Lehóczky and Adam Piette, will be published by Shearsman Books. The bilingual poetry collection features illustrations by 1920s avant-garde artist György Békeffi and introductions and afterwords by George Szirtes, István Vörös, Adam Piette, Aranka Kemény and Ágnes Lehóczky. Look out for launch events in England and Hungary in 2026.
Katalin Szlukovényi: Three Poems
Three poems by Katalin Szlukovényi in Dániel Dányi's translation.
Károly Makk: Love
Today marks 100 years since the birth of Hungarian director Károly Makk, and so we close our special feature for the Hungarian Starter Pack with Hanna Zelma Horányi's review of Love, the iconic 1971 film by the Hungarian director.
András Gerevich: Generational Cycles
A story of coming out, family, and masculinity, by Hungarian writer and poet András Gerevich, in Cassidy Baker's translation. This story was featured in the Hungarian collection titled The Taste of Motherland in My Mouth, and published in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Budapest Pride.
Hungarians Celebrate László Krasznahorkai
While there is plenty of well-deserved praise for László Krasznahorkai's Nobel Prize in Literature from the expected outlets, the Hungarian people have found countless creative ways to show their support and respect for the author, from guerilla posters to the Nobel Mobile to art exhibitions, and more.
Ferenc Barnás Wins Mészöly Prize, and New Release in English
Hungarian author Ferenc Barnás has won this year's prestigious Miklós Mészöly prize, and also has a new release in English from Seagull Books – Other Death in Owen Good's translation.
New Release: Everybody Grieves Differently by Sándor Jászberényi
The latest work from war correspondent and journalist Sándor Jászberényi, a writer whose work is "brutal but with heart," is now available in English as a Kindle edition from the author's brand-new press: Cosmopolit Publishing.
Péter Bognár: Two out of Three
'I very much agree that an excellent novel should capture a serious fact in a light and witty manner: in the 2020s, peace in Hungary means the destruction of an independent country and shameless support for the aggressor.' – A review by Sándor Radnóti of the first two novels in Péter Bognár's anti-detective novel trilogy.
