Journey by Moonlight (novel)
Current English trans. edition cover
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| Author | Antal Szerb |
|---|---|
| Original title | Utas és holdvilág |
| Translator | Len Rix, |
| Country | Hungary |
| Language | Hungarian |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Pushkin Press |
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Publication date
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1937 (English: 2001, 2003) |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 368 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 47978000 |
| 894.51133 21 | |
| LC Class | PH3351.S86 U813 2001 |
Journey by Moonlight (Hungarian: Utas és holdvilág, literally "Traveler and Moonlight") is among the best-known novels in contemporary Hungarian literature. Written by Antal Szerb, it was first published in 1937. According to Nicholas Lezard, it is "one of the greatest works of modern European literature...I can't remember the last time I did this: finished a novel and then turned straight back to page one to start it over again. That is, until I read Journey by Moonlight."
The novel features the romantic figure of Mihály, aloof and poetic, but struggling to break with an adolescent rebelliousness which he tries to quell under respectable bourgeois conformism, but also with the disturbing attraction of an erotic death-wish. There is no doubt an element of Freudianism in this. Psychoanalysis was especially influential and risqué at the time. Also present is perhaps the sexual and emotional claustrophobia of a society with strong Catholic and marital traditions. These influences notwithstanding, the novel has a distinct originality.
The novel follows Mihály, a Budapest native from a bourgeois family on his honeymoon in Italy, as he encounters and attempts to make sense of his past.
Beside English, the novel has been translated into German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Croatian.
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