Skylark

November 2, 2009
This alternately hilarious and melancholy classic of Hungarian literature plumbs the psyches of a husband and wife burdened with a homely daughter. After Ákos Vajkay and his wife, Antónia, dispatch Skylark, their stifling, unattractive and overbearing daughter, to visit with relatives, they revitalize their lives in Szarszeg, their backwater village, and recapture their youth with the Panthers, a schnapps-swilling men's social club. During their daughterless week, Ákos and Antónia rekindle their joy in living, taking in a transformative production of The Geisha
and engaging in a drinking binge and epic meals at the local tavern. With their health and happiness returned to them, the disquieting realization of Skylark's return sets in, leading to an inevitable confrontation. The author slyly depicts a smalltown life that remains curiously relevant today with his exploration of the tension between the politics of the left and the right, atheism and Christianity, and parents and their children. Though written 80 years ago, this remains a deftly executed, thoughtful meditation on mortality and the passage of time.

December 15, 2009
For the narrator, it's about "how children suffer for their parents, and parents for their children," a statement that articulates the central theme of Kosztolányi's touching and timeless novel. Set in a small city on the edge of the Hungarian frontier at the turn of the 19th century, before the Treaty of Trianon and immediately following the exciting Millennial Celebration in Budapest, the novel is an intimate look at provincial life. Particularly, it is the portrait of two parents dealing with their newfound freedom when their unmarriageable daughter visits relatives for a week. The parents explore their long-forgotten interests, discover new desires, and come to mourn their daughter's station in life and resent her return. Péter Esterházy ("Celestial Harmonies") provides an insightful introduction, placing Kosztolányi in the European pantheon. VERDICT Kosztolányi was a masterly writer. Several of his novels have been translated into English (e.g., "Anna Edes; Darker Muses"), but "Skylark" is easily the most accessible and poignant. Kudos to New York Review Books for bringing it to a wider audience. This same translation appeared from Central European University Press in 1993.Kurt H. Cumiskey, Duke Univ. Libs., Durham, NC

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