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Barcode , Krisztina Tóth's first substantial work in prose after four volumes of remarkable verse, consists of fifteen beautifully written short stories. Each story is told with poetic intensity and intimacy from a young, unnamed female narrator's point of view. Whether about childhood acquaintances, school camps and trips, or love and deceit in love, they are all are set against the backdrop of Hungary's socialist era in its declining years.
What sets this book apart, however, is another level in the work as a whole: the stories are carefully strung, like jewels in a necklace, along metaphorical 'lines', as in the title of the collection and the subtitle of the pieces, which nearly all include the word for 'line, bar'. The losses, disappointments, and tragedies great and small recounted here offer nuanced ‘mirrorings’ of the female soul and linger long in the memory.
The translation by Peter Sherwood has won the English PEN's flagship translation awards in 2022. Titles are selected for PEN Translates on the basis of outstanding literary quality, the strength of the publishing project and their contribution to the diversity of books published in the UK.
Join us for the discussion between the author and translator, moderated by Eszter Tarsoly about this wonderful book!
The event is free but registration is necessary.
Krisztina Tóth is one of Hungary’s most highly acclaimed poets and writers. She has won a great number of awards, and her poetry, as well as her short stories have been translated into more than ten languages. She lives in Budapest where, apart from writing, she leads seminars on creative writing. She is a noted translator of, among others, literary fiction, children’s literature and song lyrics from French.
Peter Sherwood is a freelance translator based in London. He taught Hungarian language, literature, and linguistics at the University of London and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. His other translations from Hungarian include works by Miklós Vámos, Noémi Szécsi, Béla Hamvas, Dezső Kosztolányi, and János Pilinszky.
Eszter Tarsoly is an Associate Professor at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, teaching – mainly – Hungarian language and translation. Her main research interests are linguistic and cultural diversity, language contact, language change, the language of literature and verbal art, translation, and attitudes towards language.
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