Imre Kertész

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Imre Kertész (IPA: [ˈimrɛ ˈkɛrteːs]) (born November 9, 1929) is a Jewish-Hungarian author, Holocaust concentration camp survivor, and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2002 "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history".

Kertész' best-known work, Fatelessness (Sorstalanság), describes the experience of a fifteen-year-old boy in the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Zeitz. Some have interpreted the book as quasi-autobiographical, but the author disavows a strong biographical connection. His writings translated into English include Kaddish for a Child Not Born (Kaddis a meg nem született gyermekért) and Liquidation (Felszámolás). Kertész initially found little appreciation for his writing in Hungary and moved to Germany. However, he continues to write in Hungarian and submits his works to publishers in Hungary.

A film based on his novel Fatelessness was made in Hungary in 2005. Although sharing the same title, the film is more autobiographical than the book. The film was released at various dates throughout the world in 2005 and 2006.

Contents 1 Political views on the Magyar minority in Romania 2 Works 3 Works of Imre Kertész in English 4 About the work of Imre Kertész 5 External links

[edit] Political views on the Magyar minority in Romania

In a petition addressed to European and Romanian leaders, Kertész requested the opening of a separate Hungarian-language (Magyar) university to serve the 1.5 million-strong Hungarian minority of Romania. In an article published on 22 February 2006 by the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, "Ceauşescu's Institute", Kertész launched a virulent attack against the Babeş-Bolyai University in the city Cluj-Napoca in the Transylvanian region of Romania, calling the university "a relic of the national-socialist era".

[edit] Works

• Sorstalanság (1975)
• A nyomkereső (1977)
• Detektívtörténet (1977)
• A kudarc (1988)
• Kaddis a meg nem született gyermekért (1990)
• Az angol lobogó (1991)
• Gályanapló (1992)
• A holocaust mint kultúra : három előadás (1993)
• Jegyzőkönyv / Imre Kertész ; Élet és Irodalom / Esterházy Péter (1993)
• Valaki más : a változás krónikája (1997)
• A gondolatnyi csend, amíg a kivégzőosztag újratölt (1998)
• A száműzött nyelv (2001)
• Felszámolás (2003)

[edit] Works of Imre Kertész in English

• Fatelessness / translated by Tim Wilkinson. New York: Knopf, 2004.
• Fateless / translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson: Northwestern University Press, 1992. – Uniform title: ISBN 0810110490
• Kaddish for an Unborn Child / translated by Tim Wilkinson: Vintage, 2004. ISBN 1400078628
• Kaddish for a child not born / translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson. – Evanston, Ill. : Hydra Books, 1997. – Uniform title: ISBN 0810111616
• Liquidation / translated by Tim Wilkinson: Knopf, 2004. ISBN 1400041538

[edit] About the work of Imre Kertész

• Imre Kertész and Holocaust Literature. Ed. Louise O. Vasvári and Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek. Purdue Books in Comparative Cultural Studies 8. <http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/ccs-purdue.html> & <http://www.thepress.purdue.edu/series/compstudies.asp>. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2005. The first English-language volume on the work of Nobel in Literature 2002 Imre Kertész, the volume contains papers by scholars in Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, New Zealand, and the USA, as well as historical papers about the background of the Holocaust in Hungary. Articles in the volume are "Imre Kertész and Hungarian Literature" by Enikö Molnár Basa, "Jewishness in Hungary, Imre Kertész, and the Choice of an Identity" by Sara Cohen, "The Aporia of Imre Kertész" by Robert Eaglestone, "Imre Kertész, Hegel, and the Philosophy of Reconciliation" by Amos Friedland, "Identities of the Jew and the Hungarian" by András Gerö, "Representing the Holocaust, Kertész's Fatelessness, and Benigni's La vita è bella" by Bettina von Jagow, "Imre Kertész's Fatelessness as Historical Fiction" by Julia Karolle, "Reading Imre Kertész in English" by Adrienne Kertzer, "Imre Kertész's Fatelessness and the Myth about Auschwitz in Hungary" by Kornélia Koltai, "The Historians' Debate about the Holocaust in Hungary" by András Kovács, "Imre Kertész and Hungary Today" by Magdalena Marsovszky, "Imre Kertész's Aesthetics of the Holocaust" by Sára Molnár, "The Dichotomy of Perspectives in the Work of Imre Kertész and Jorge Semprún" by Marie Peguy, "Imre Kertész and the Filming of Sorstalanság (Fatelessness)" by Catherine Portuges, "Danilo Kis, Imre Kertész, and the Myth of the Holocaust" by Rosana Ratkovcic, "Imre Kertész's Jegyzökönyv (Sworn Statement) and the Self Deprived of Itself" by Tamás Scheibner, "Imre Kertész's Kaddish for an Unborn Child" by Eluned Summers-Bremner, "Imre Kertész's Nobel Prize in Literature and the Print Media" by Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek, "Holocaust Literature and Imre Kertész" by Paul Várnai, "The Novelness of Imre Kertész's Fatelessness" by Louise O. Vasvári, and "The Media and Imre Kertész's Nobel Prize in Literature" by Judy Young. In addition to the papers about Kertész's work, the volume includes an as of yet in English unpublished text by Imre Kertész, "Galley Boat-Log (Gályanapló): Excerpt(s)" translated by Tim Wilkinson, a review article about books on Jewish Identity and anti-Semitism Central Europe by Barbara Breysach, and a "A Bibliography of Imre Kertész's Oeuvre and Publications about His Work" by Steven Tötösy.

• Molnár, Sára. "Nobel in Literature 2002 Imre Kertész's Aesthetics of the Holocaust." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 5.1 (2003) [1]
• Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven. "And the 2002 Nobel Prize for Literature Goes to Imre Kertész, Jew and Hungarian." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 5.1 (2003) [2]
• Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven. "Imre Kertész's Nobel Prize, Public Discourse, and the Media." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 7.4 (2005) [3]

[edit] External links

• An article on Kertész
• The Last Word an interview with Kertész
• Fateless at the Internet Movie Database  Hungary
• Imre Kertész – Nobel Lecture
• B.-ing There, a review of the novel Liquidation by Ben Ehrenreich, Village Voice, December 20, 2004

The Work of Imre Kertész
Novels: Sorstalanság | A nyomkereső | Detektívtörténet | A kudarc | Kaddis a meg nem született gyermekért | Az angol lobogó | Gályanapló | A holocaust mint kultúra : három előadás | Valaki más : a változás krónikája | A gondolatnyi csend, amíg a kivégzőosztag újratölt | A száműzött nyelv | Felszámolás
Short stories: Jegyzőkönyv