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| György Spiró |
The book was translated by Elzbieta Cygielska, a professor on the Hungarian faculty of Warsaw University, and published by W.A.B. Messiahs was first published in Hungarian by Magvető in 2007.
Spiró, who speaks excellent Polish, participated at the launch, which turned into a talk between the author and the translators, teachers and university students present at the event.
István Gordon, the director of the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Warsaw, said one of the teachers at the launch remarked of the book, "I can't imagine that anybody in Poland could write this story in a similar way."
The novel takes place in 19th century Poland, where a man proclaims he is the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and is believed by the country's greatest poets.
Spiró gained a big following in Poland with the publication of his first full-length novel, whose hero was Boguslawski, the Polish Moliére. Sprió used the character to show the power of censure and the fight for art. Since then, many more of the Kossuth Prize-winning author's works have been translated into Polish.
Spiró has translated the plays of Gombrowicz and Wyspianski, as well as the poems of the Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz into Hungarian. Three years ago, he was presented the ZAIKS Prize for promoting Polish literature abroad through his work as a translator.
The Polish publisher brought plenty of copies of Messiahs to the launch, and nearly all had been sold by the end of the evening, said Gordon.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Photo: Zsuzsa Koncz
