Sándor Neszlár was born in 1980 in Sátoraljaújhely. He has two books to his name: Inter Presszó (FISZ, 2009) and A Carpenter’s Stepson (Magvető, 2018). Neszlár works as editor with Csimota, a children’s publisher.
Author: orzoyagnes
SÁNDOR NESZLÁR: A Carpenter’s Stepson
Sándor Neszlár’s book is exciting experimental prose: he writes a sentence for each kilometre he’s run. The novel is a sum of these sentences, brought to life by the runner’s thoughts, now focussed, now wandering freely. The sentences themselves are unusual: they are almost all impersonal, concealing their narrator. A Carpenter’s Stepson is a veiled autobiography that urges the reader, too, to explore the places of their own life, and run through their own sentences.
“It all started with running. I started noting the kilometres and then, after my runs, a sentence or two as well: running into someone while running; running into trouble. When I was nearing my thousandth kilometre, I decided this text would be one thousand sentences, but I ran faster than I wrote, so I had to make that one thousand one hundred and eleven to keep pace with myself. Meanwhile I went years without running, without writing too; later I picked it slowly up again, and as the kilometres piled up once more, the sentences began running out, but by then, that didn’t matter at all.”
53. Leaving blank pages in an unlined notebook. 54. Getting someone else (mum), while driving, to write down the following sentence: to see your favourite film for the first time. 55. Being a lizard on a sunlit rock. 56. During football, as a first year, to interpret literally the phrase: stick to him. 57. Bursting through a wall of linked hands to capture the flag. 58. Saying, look, a wasp, before killing it. 59. Knowing how to make light of grief after a funeral. 60. Driving through the sleeping city at night with your lights on full beam. 61. Deviating from the planned route and then saying:
we’re not lost.
EDINA SZVOREN: There Is None, Nor Let There Be
Short stories
Edina Szvoren’s stories contain a lot of dry humour, yet at the same time they sizzle, as she reveals the drama in the minutiae of human relationships. When describing Szvoren’s literary world, reviewers have brought up the names of two radically different predecessors: the analytical prose of Péter Nádas and the graceful giant of grotesque, Péter Hajnóczy. The stories of There Is None, Nor Let There Be will convince the reader that Szvoren is a mature author with a unique storytelling voice. The family, which is both the centre stage and model of our lives, stands firmly in the middle of the stories, regardless of whether we are struggling on that stage or are just on the outside looking in. (European Prize for Literature Anthology, 2015)
Product details
ISBN 978 963 1438 92 5
2019, hard cover with jacket
176 pages, 3299 HUF
Rights sold
Croatian, Naklada Ljevak
Italian, Mimesis
Dutch, De Geus
Macedonian, TRI Publishing Centre
Polish, Książkowe Klimaty
Serbian, Sezam
Slovenian, Beletrina
Turkish, Kalem
English excerpts available
Magvető Rights 