Nádás spoke about the scope of his work, nationalism, memory, personal responsibility and history. He was introduced by Kira Brunner Don, the editor of Lapman's Quarterly.
When the Hungarian censors finally consented to the publication of Nádás's A Book of Memories, it was compared to the work of Marcel Proust and Thomas Mann. After its translation into English-more than a decade later-Susan Sontag called it "the greatest novel written in our time, and one of the great books of the century," PEN said in its programme for the festival.
Asked about the comparisons made between A Book of Memories and Proust and Mann, Nádás answered diplomatically, saying it was an honour to be likened to such authors but noting that he saw little similarity between his own work and theirs.
Nádás said his work as a writer placed him in an area between fantasy and reality.
"I strive to sail a course that meets neither shore, I have no need for food or drink, I don't need to pick anything up, I don't even need fuel," he said, adding that this was important because he uses fantasy and reality as a kind of apparatus for review.
Reflecting on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Nádás said he believed the age of revolutions had ended "and with it much has ended in European culture". Because of this, today's Europeans feel no excitement, rather sadness or despair, "but hardly even that". He added that what occurred in 1989 was not a revolution: the Soviet empire fell because it was not communism, because there were no communists.
Péter Nádas was born in Budapest in 1942. In 1972, he published The End of a Family Novel, which was later translated into 21 languages. His novel A Book of Memories was published in 1986 and was translated into 11 languages.
In 1991, he was awarded the Österreichische Staatspreis für Europäische Literatur, and in the same year received the Kossuth Prize, the highest Hungarian award for literary and artistic achievement. In 2002, he received the Franz Kafka Prize in Prague.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / PEN
