Lajos Parti Nagy

Lajos Parti Nagy was born in Szeksz�rd, Hungary in 1953. His father was an officer, so he grew up in various Hungarian cities. Although Parti Nagy studied Literature and History at the Pedagogical College in P�cs, he has never taught. In the 70�s and 80�s he lived in P�cs, where he worked as a librarian and from 1979 to 1986 as an editor for the literary magazine �Jelenkor�. Since 1986 he has lived in Budapest, where he works as a freelance writer and literary translator. He has translated works by Werner Schwab and Thomas Bernhard into Hungarian. In the early 90�s he wrote articles for the literary magazine ‘Magyar Napl�’. Until this time, his written output was solely poetic; he now also writes stories, novels, radio plays and dramas. In 1993 theatre critics awarded his first theatre piece ‘Ibus�r’ the title of ‘Best Hungarian Drama’. Like ‘Mauz�leum’ (1994) and his drama translations and adaptations, this piece is also frequently performed at Hungarian and international theatres.

Characteristic of Parti Nagy�s writing is his obsessive way of dealing with colloquial Hungarian. Repetitions that initially “occur” unconsciously, work in the course of the text to make the material more clear. For Parti Nagy the colloquial language is a living reservoir and, rather than an impoverishment of the Hungarian language, he sees a “baroque turmoil” at work. In 1999 ‘Europink’ a book of poetry written in four languages (including German) appeared. From 2001 to 2002 he lived in Berlin as a DAAD scholarship holder. His novel ‘H�s�m tere’ (2000; t: Hero’s Square), an allegorical story involving animals and written in the style of a satire by Swift, is told by a narrator and a consciousness independent of his person, which appears as the narrator�s “hero”. This consciousness is imprisoned by his new neighbours, a “party of pigeons” formed for the sake of taking over power in the city. Parti Nagy has written a satirical finale on dictatorships of all colours.

� international literature festival berlin

A hull�mz� Balaton: waldtrockenkammeri �tiratok

Jelenkor

P�cs, 1994

Esti kr�ta

Jelenkor

P�cs, 1995

Ibus�r. Mauz�leum: Sz�nm�vek

Jelenkor

P�cs, 1996

S�rbog�rdi Jol�n: A test angyala: Habsz�dia

Jelenkor

P�cs, 1997

Europink

Jelenkor

P�cs, 1999

�bersetzung: Edit Baranyai

Grafitnesz

Magvet�

Budapest, 2003

Meines Helden Platz

Luchterhand

M�nchen, 2005

�bersetzung: Ter�zia Mora

A fagyott kutya lába
Maveto
Budapest, 2006

�bersetzer: Edit Baranyai, Kinga Dornacher, Wilhelm Droste, Istran Orban, Terezia Mora