Other articles where parallel stories is discussed. Susan sontag lauded peter nadass a book of memories published in english in 1997 as the greatest novel written in our time. Prose said that a year after reading it, im still urging people to read peter nadass dense, filthy, brilliant 1,100page novel, parallel stories. In this article i concentrate on the novels poetic structure. Eighteen years in the making, peter nadass work prompts the question. Parallel stories by peter nadas, 9780374229764, available at book. In my continuing fascination with lengthy novels by nonus authors, heres parallel stories. In at least one readers experience, cracking the books spine to make.
At the risk of using a peashooter to take potshots at a cathedral, then, let me temper broad admiration with a warning. The scattered narrative, focusing seemingly randomly on events and experiences since the world war ii era, intersperses. 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. A novel isbn 9780374229764 a lovely tale of photography isbn 8090217168 the end of a family story. Stream and download audiobooks to your computer, tablet or mobile phone. 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. While theirs may be the parallel stories of the title, this is a boldly experimental novel that stubbornly refuses to follow straight lines. As of 15 april 2015, a pdf of the translation is available at. 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.
Uncommonly good collectible and rare books from uncommonly good booksellers. The physical copy of peter nadas s parallel stories does not hold up well to a particularly aggressive reading. Parallel stories may be great, too, but it can be a slog to read, which will at least take away from its accessibility. 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. His present, monumental novel is a piece of docufiction focusing on his extended family from greatgrandfather. Parallel stories is a novel of extraordinary scope and depth, a masterwork that traces the fate of myriad europeans.
To ask other readers questions about parallel stories, please sign up. When was the last time a novel made you painfully more aware of your. The humdrum theorist peter nadas constantly spars with the virtuoso. 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. Parhuzamos tortenetek is a 2005 novel in three volumes by the hungarian writer peter nadas. I must try to say something about nadas s language. I feel like peter nadas was trying to do two things here. 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. 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. 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. 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. Parallel stories isbn 9780224094009 pdf epub peter nadas. 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.
Parallel stories, the new novel by peter nadas, is a virtuoso combination of nineteenthcentury high realism with the experimentalism of the. He has even written an academic article about his own book, structure and plot patterns in parallel stories. Parallel stories was a disappointment for me, but if you like the slowmotion charm of broch, musil or krasznahorkai you might warm to this. He is forced, in doing so, to jump from the beastly self.
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. Parallel stories, by the hungarian novelist peter nadas, explores the lives of numerous characters as their experiences unfold during the. Hungarian novelist, essayist, and dramatist, a major central european literary figure. 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.
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. 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. Parallel stories novel by nadas peter abebooks passion for books. 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. Parallel stories by peter nadas in fb2, rtf, txt download ebook.
Parallel stories, formidable in its lengthover 1,000 pages both in the original hungarian and the english translationand its variety of content. This book took nadas, who is wellknown in hungary, 18 years to write. Parallel stories may be bigger, but it is the weaker book. American author francine prose said that a year after reading it, im still urging people to read peter nadas s dense, filthy, brilliant 1,100page novel, parallel stories. A new york times notable book for 2011 in 1989, the year the wall came down, a.
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