Parallel stories by peter nadas, 9780374229764, available at book. This scene opens a novel of extraordinary scope and depth. At the risk of using a peashooter to take potshots at a cathedral, then, let me temper broad admiration with a warning. With the publication in english of peter nadass capacious book of memories in 1997, the american press granted this living giant of hungarian. In 1989, the year the wall came down, a university student in berlin on his morning run finds a corpse on a park bench and alerts the authorities. As of 15 april 2015, a pdf of the translation is available at. Uncommonly good collectible and rare books from uncommonly good booksellers. Parallel stories is a novel of extraordinary scope and depth, a masterwork that traces the fate of myriad europeans. Parallel stories may be bigger, but it is the weaker book. Parallel stories is the first foreign translation of this daring, demanding, and momentous novel, and it confirms for an even larger audience what hungary already knows.
He is forced, in doing so, to jump from the beastly self. Parallel stories, by the hungarian novelist peter nadas, explores the lives of numerous characters as their experiences unfold during the tumultuous history of. Parallel stories, the new novel by peter nadas, is a virtuoso combination of nineteenthcentury high realism with the experimentalism of the. Much of parallel stories will concern itself with filling in their histories during the nazi era, as well as the histories of their friends and lovers, plus friends and lovers of those individuals. It would be most accurate to say that, while there are tenuous links between the different stories in this book, there are several different sort of parallel novels working within the longer novel. Parallel stories novel by nadas peter abebooks passion for books. His mother died when he was a child, and his father committed suicide outside the family home in. I must try to say something about nadas s language. Parallel stories 2005 promises and delivers even more. To ask other readers questions about parallel stories, please sign up. While theirs may be the parallel stories of the title, this is a boldly experimental novel that stubbornly refuses to follow straight lines.
The web of extended dramas in parallel stories reaches not just forward to the transformative year of 1989 but back to the spring of 1939, with europe trembling on the edge of war. Parallel stories, formidable in its lengthover 1,000 pages both in the original hungarian and the english translationand its variety of content. A new york times notable book for 2011 in 1989, the year the wall came down, a. The fact that i can only know parallel stories in translation makes this tricky, but i have to assume that the translator, imre goldstein, has done a capable job of rendering what seems to be the authors fairly straightforward and even mundane diction into a corresponding english style. In this article i concentrate on the novels poetic structure. Parallel stories was a disappointment for me, but if you like the slowmotion charm of broch, musil or krasznahorkai you might warm to this. Parallel stories by peter nadas in fb2, rtf, txt download ebook. Parallel stories is the first foreign translation of this daring, demanding, and momentous novel, and it confirms for an even larger audience what hungary. Nadas seems to have accomplished what david foster wallace wished for. Listen to parallel stories audiobook by peter nadas. Eighteen years in the making, peter nadass work prompts the question. In at least one readers experience, cracking the books spine to make.
A novel isbn 9780374229764 a lovely tale of photography isbn 8090217168 the end of a family story. All content included on our site, such as text, images, digital downloads and other, is the property of its content suppliers and protected by us and international laws. Parallel stories, by the hungarian novelist peter nadas, explores the lives of numerous characters as their experiences unfold during the. In my continuing fascination with lengthy novels by nonus authors, heres parallel stories. Parallel stories is a novel of extraordinary scope and depth, a masterwork that traces the fate of myriad europeanshungarians, jews, germans, gypsiesacross the treacherous years of the midtwentieth century. The humdrum theorist peter nadas constantly spars with the virtuoso. He has even written an academic article about his own book, structure and plot patterns in parallel stories. Among his works translated into english are the novels a book of memories fsg, 1997, the end of a family story fsg, 1998, and love fsg, 2000. I feel like peter nadas was trying to do two things here. Peter nadas, hungarian author, essayist, and playwright known for his detailed surrealist tales and prosepoems that often blended points of view or points in time. Susan sontag lauded peter nadass a book of memories published in english in 1997 as the greatest novel written in our time. Hungarian novelist, essayist, and dramatist, a major central european literary figure.
Editor elisabeth sifton writes, after his last novel, a book of memories, appeared in english in 1997, many critics and readers agreed with susan sontags assessment that it was the greatest novel written in po. This book took nadas, who is wellknown in hungary, 18 years to write. Prose said that a year after reading it, im still urging people to read peter nadass dense, filthy, brilliant 1,100 page novel, parallel stories. Otherwise, they are parallel only for short distances, like a train line out on the magyar plain, leading, as many of the characters here know, to horrible places of mass death. The war in parallel stories is not waged on the battlefield, in fact, though preandpostandpresent wwii europe is very much the stage, it never rears its hydrahead explicitly but rather in the hearts, minds, and souls of men, and it is one in which there are no victors. Prose said that a year after reading it, im still urging people to read peter nadass dense, filthy, brilliant 1,100page novel, parallel stories. When was the last time a novel made you painfully more aware of your. Other articles where parallel stories is discussed. Stream and download audiobooks to your computer, tablet or mobile phone. Parallel stories isbn 9780224094009 pdf epub peter nadas. The scattered narrative, focusing seemingly randomly on events and experiences since the world war ii era, intersperses. Parallel stories may be great, too, but it can be a slog to read, which will at least take away from its accessibility.
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