Novel
The Fawn
Az őz
Magda Szabó · 1959
Synopsis
Budapest, 1954. Eszter Encsy, a famous stage and screen actress, speaks in a single stretch to an addressee who is revealed only gradually. She goes back over a childhood of poverty: shoes that hurt her feet, a father whom illness kept from working, a mother of minor nobility who kept the family going by giving piano lessons. And over Angéla, her mother's pupil, rich, beautiful and gentle, who had everything she lacked, and whom she hates beneath a show of friendship.
Context
The novel appeared in 1959, right after Freskó, which in 1958 had marked its author's return after nine years of prohibition; the two books brought her national fame. It is a long uninterrupted monologue, in which the reader gradually discovers whom the narrator is addressing and where her grudges come from. Translated into English as early as 1963 by Kathleen Szasz, it was retranslated by Len Rix for New York Review Books; the French version, by Chantal Philippe, appeared with Viviane Hamy.
Who it is for
A novel written in a single breath, which reads like a confession; translated into French and English.
Prizes and reception
The novel that, together with Freskó, made its author known throughout the country, and of which a new English translation appeared in 2023.
Sources for this page 3
The pages consulted to check this page.