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A review by melindamoor
The Pendragon Legend by Antal Szerb
5.0
'Tell me,' he asked, with some embarassment, as we strolled along: 'you're a bloody German, aren't you?'
'Oh, no. I'm Hungarian.'
'Hungarian?'
'Hungarian.'
'What's that? Is that a country? Or you are just having me on?
'Not at all. On my word of honour, it is a country.'
'And where do you Hungarians live?'
'In Hungary. Between Austria, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia'.
'Come off it. Those places were made up by Shakespeare.'
[b:The Pendragon Legend|158218|The Pendragon Legend|Antal Szerb|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328696613l/158218._SX50_.jpg|1978465] or a Hungarian scholar's very non-scholarly, tongue-in-cheek adventures with the British, the Welsh, the (possibly) Rosicrucian Order, mysticism, sexuality and hilarity, not in this particular order. And sometimes it reads like [a:Antal Szerb|5441368|Antal Szerb|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1327853434p2/5441368.jpg] is taking the piss out of the [b:The Da Vinci Code|968|The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)|Dan Brown|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579621267l/968._SY75_.jpg|2982101], the only hitch being that this novel was published in 1934, almost 70 years before. Literary time travel at its best or what?
Once again, [a:Len Rix|3848796|Len Rix|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png], the translator is brilliant, because -improbable as it may seem - the novel in English reads almost like in Hungarian with the same flavours, aromas, feelings, what have you. The translation is as amazingly impossible, entertaining and hilarious as the novel itself.
Please note that in whatever mood you may read this book, make sure you don't take it seriously. Because it is no more and no less than romp through Britain and literary genres from murder mystery to adventure to parody, from ghost story to comedy. Even so the simplicity and yet complexity of the plot is quite amazing.
The protagonist, unscholarly scholar, János Bátky (alterego of the author himself) is a cross between Dr Watson & Sherlock. Add a clumsy Indiana Jones to the mix and you are right there where you need to be. :)
A British friend of mine whom I gave this book as a present told me that the book read just like it was written by a British author and for this particular book, and I guess also for Antal Szerb, you cannot give a higher praise than that.
'Oh, no. I'm Hungarian.'
'Hungarian?'
'Hungarian.'
'What's that? Is that a country? Or you are just having me on?
'Not at all. On my word of honour, it is a country.'
'And where do you Hungarians live?'
'In Hungary. Between Austria, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia'.
'Come off it. Those places were made up by Shakespeare.'
[b:The Pendragon Legend|158218|The Pendragon Legend|Antal Szerb|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328696613l/158218._SX50_.jpg|1978465] or a Hungarian scholar's very non-scholarly, tongue-in-cheek adventures with the British, the Welsh, the (possibly) Rosicrucian Order, mysticism, sexuality and hilarity, not in this particular order. And sometimes it reads like [a:Antal Szerb|5441368|Antal Szerb|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1327853434p2/5441368.jpg] is taking the piss out of the [b:The Da Vinci Code|968|The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)|Dan Brown|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579621267l/968._SY75_.jpg|2982101], the only hitch being that this novel was published in 1934, almost 70 years before. Literary time travel at its best or what?
Once again, [a:Len Rix|3848796|Len Rix|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png], the translator is brilliant, because -improbable as it may seem - the novel in English reads almost like in Hungarian with the same flavours, aromas, feelings, what have you. The translation is as amazingly impossible, entertaining and hilarious as the novel itself.
Please note that in whatever mood you may read this book, make sure you don't take it seriously. Because it is no more and no less than romp through Britain and literary genres from murder mystery to adventure to parody, from ghost story to comedy. Even so the simplicity and yet complexity of the plot is quite amazing.
The protagonist, unscholarly scholar, János Bátky (alterego of the author himself) is a cross between Dr Watson & Sherlock. Add a clumsy Indiana Jones to the mix and you are right there where you need to be. :)
A British friend of mine whom I gave this book as a present told me that the book read just like it was written by a British author and for this particular book, and I guess also for Antal Szerb, you cannot give a higher praise than that.