December 8, 2008

Hungarian Writer György Spiró Holds Washington Audience in Captivity During His Reading

Kossuth Prize winner Hungarian writer, dramatist and theater director György Spiró read in English from his latest novel, Fogság (Captivitiy, in English) at the Embassy of Hungary on Tuesday, December 2, at 7pm.

 

Hungarian Writer and Dramatist György Spiró and Cultural Attaché Béla Gedeon

One of his most most ambitious literary creations to date, the 800-page Fogság came out in 2005 in Hungary, but it has not been published or even translated into English (the twenty-page piece available in English was translated by Ivan Sanders, a Hungarian American Professor of Literature at Columbia University). Set in the Roman Empire in the time of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, the book follows the experiences of a Jewish young man named Uri, who becomes a member of a delegation, that transports community tax from Rome to Jerusalem. 

 

György Spiró also talked about the 6 episodes of the Hungarian documentary film titled 'A Fogság nyomában' (In Pursuit of Fogság), which travels along the Mediterranean Sea to visit the cities or ruins of the original locations of the novel

The audience had the chance to pose questions to the author about his working method, and also about his other novels, such as the Xs (Az Ikszek) and Kingfisher (A jégmadár), as well as about his dramas, including Chickenhead (Csirkefej), Impostor (Az imposztor), Quartet (Kvartett), Dobardan, Funland (Honderű), and Blackout (Elsötétítés).

 

The cover of the Hungarian publication of Fogság

You may learn more about Mr. György Spiró and his novels in English at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gy%C3%B6rgy_Spir%C3%B3, and in Hungarian at: http://www.fogsag.hu.