Hungarian Grotesque in the 20th Century: István Örkény

Online talk by Dr Zita Turi.

Abstract: István Örkény, the father of Hungarian grotesque and the inventor of the so-called one-minute stories, was one of the figureheads of Hungarian literature in the second half of the 20th century.

His works written in the 1950s and 1960s reflect the turmoil of fascism and communism in Eastern Europe. Örkény’s worldview and writing were fundamentally shaped by World War II, the communist takeover in 1948-1949, and the Revolution of 1956, and I will aim to demonstrate that, in many cases, the grotesque features in his works are not due to his imagination, but rather to the political context in which they were created.

Event Contact: rowland.wymer@aru.ac.uk