"It is very difficult to get in US literary magazines but I was exceptionally lucky. My first book The Parasite, published in Hungarian in 1997, was translated into English by Paul Olchváry so well that its first chapter was published by a US literary journal in its entirety," the Mára Sándor award-winning author Barnás said.
He said it took several years to find a publisher for the book. "Olchváry won a PEN American Center translation award for translating the first chapter of my book The Ninth in 2007 and I think this helped a lot with finding a publisher," he added.
The Ninth was published by the Northwestern University Press in May of this year. The full English translation of The Parasite was also completed by Olchváry, with the help of a US State Art Fund translation prize.
Barnás said Hungarian literature enjoys a high level of prestige around the world, which he believes is partly due to a linguistic and language philosophy approach that characterises Hungarian writers. "It is a little different in America. They deal with novels not only with the approach of a professional critic but are also open to everyday readers and often discuss the conflicts and problems presented in a book in order to generate real debate. This layman's approach helps a lot in making books popular," he added.
The narrator of The Ninth is a nine-year-old boy who lives with his 9 brothers and sisters on the verge of poverty in 1960s Hungary. "The current economic situation has made Western European and American readers very sensitive to social and existential topics. Poverty has become real, it is no longer a problem of far away countries. My protagonist is a young boy who quickly learns the strategies of survival. This can also become a timely issue now in welfare states," says Barnás, who published his first work at the age of 38.
It took Barnás ten years to write The Parasite, during which time he also did many other things, including working as a teacher, finishing a PhD and working as a street musician in Germany, Switzerland, Britain, France, Italy and Austria. He says he is a "self-seeking type." Barnás is currently at work on his fourth novel but he declined to reveal any details. "Not even my partner knows the subject of the book. "I only find out what my next book is about when I finish it," he added, with a bit of exaggeration.
Barnás will meet readers in New York (Brooklyn) on June 6, in New Brunswick on June 12, in Toronto on June 14 and in Chicago on a date still to be confirmed.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
