Magda SzabÃģ (1917â2007) was born into an old Protestant family in Debrecen, Hungaryâs âCalvinist Rome,â on the eastern side of the great Hungarian plain. SzabÃģ., whose father taught her to converse with him in Latin, German, English, and French, attended the University of Debrecen, studying Latin and Hungarian, and went on to work as a teacher throughout the German and Soviet occupations of Hungary in 1944 and 1945. In 1947, she published two volumes of poetry, BÃĄrÃĄny (The Lamb) and Vissza az emberig (Return to Man), for which she received the Baumgarten Prize in 1949. Under Communist rule, the prize was repealed and her work was banned, and SzabÃģ. turned to writing fiction. Her first novel, FreskÃģ (Fresco), came out in 1958, followed closely by Az Åz (The Fawn). In 1959 she won the JÃģzsef Attila Prize, after which she went on to write many more novels, among them Katalin utca (Katalin Street, 1969), ÃkÚt (The Ancient Well, 1970), RÃĐgimÃģdi tÃķrtÃĐnet (An Old-Fashioned Tale, 1971), and Az ajtÃģ (The Door, 1987). SzabÃģ also wrote verse for children, plays, short stories, and nonfiction, including a tribute to her husband, Tibor Szobotka, a writer and translator who died in 1982. A member of the European Academy of Sciences and a warden of the Calvinist Theological Seminary in Debrecen, SzabÃģ. died in the city in which she was born, a book in her hand.
Len Rix is a poet, critic, and former literature professor who has translated six books by Antal Szerb, including the novel Journey by Moonlight (available as an NYRB Classic) and, most recently, The Martianâs Guide to Budapest. In 2006 he was awarded the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize for his translation of Magda SzabÃģâs The Door (also available as an NYRB Classic), which was one of The New York Times Book Reviewâs ten best books of 2015.
Magda SzabÃģ (1917â2007) was born into an old Protestant family in Debrecen, Hungaryâs âCalvinist Rome,â on the eastern side of the great Hungarian plain. SzabÃģ., whose father taught her to converse with him in Latin, German, English, and French, attended the University of Debrecen, studying Latin...