Szil谩rd Borb茅ly, one of the most celebrated writers to emerge from post-Communist Hungary, received numerous literary awards in his native country. In this volume, acclaimed translator Ottilie Mulzet reveals the full range and force of Borb茅ly鈥檚 verse by bringing together generous selections from his last two books, Final Matters and To the Body. The original Hungarian text is set on pages facing the English translations, and the book also features an afterword by Mulzet that places the poems in literary, historical, and biographical context.
Restless, curious, learned, and alert, Borb茅ly weaves into his work an unlikely mix of Hungarian folk songs, Christian and Jewish hymns, classical myths, police reports, and unsettling accounts of abortions. In her afterword, Mulzet calls this collection 鈥渁 blasphemous and fragmentary prayer book 鈥� that challenges us to rethink the boundaries of victimhood, culpability, and our own religious and cultural definitions.鈥�
Awards and Recognition
- Finalist for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, PEN America
- Ottilie Mulzet, Winner of the Tibor D茅ry Prize, Tibor D茅ry Foundation
"Any reader will find a mine full of treasure within Final Matters, and every reader of poetry should have a copy of this excellent translation of Borb茅ly's masterful work."鈥擝ruce Arlen Wasserman, New York Journal of 快色直播
"The poetry of Final Matters is a tremendous achievement, and shows that Borb茅ly should be considered not just among the great writers of post-Soviet Europe, but also of contemporary Judaism."鈥擠aniel Kraft, Jewish Currents
"Final Matters is Borbely's 'painted bleeding'; the poetic craft and rhetorical strategies employed in the collection allow him to keep hidden the unspeakable personal trauma whilst at the same time revealing the questions this and other such acts of extreme violence ask of us all. . . . At times, Borbely devastates, but the material is never gratuitous, however heartbreaking: and there is always, somewhere, a shred of faith, of hope, hard won鈥攈e is a poet who writes against oblivion."鈥擳ony Flynn, High Window
"The title of this book gives a powerful clue as to its contents. For what Szil谩rd Borb茅ly has given us here is a book of death. In line after line of spare and devastating poetry, he goes into the heart of darkness, and invites us, with an eery calm, to go there with him. Once you have done so, you will not be the same again."鈥擝arney Bardsley, Hungarian Literature Online
"Ottilie Mulzet . . . [is] the translator of Final Matters: 颅Selected Poems, 2004-2010 by Szil谩rd Borb茅ly. Borb茅ly鈥檚 mother was murdered by a couple of crazed robbers. Some poems work through that tragedy toward a larger meditation on death and life. In others, with startling 颅images drawn from documentary materials, Borb茅ly writes mystical lyrics, polytheistic parables and Hasidic sequences too powerful to forget. Like Japan鈥檚 wondrous Motoyuki Shibata, 颅Ottilie Mulzet has become a translator with a following. I鈥檓 one of those committed to reading anything she takes up."鈥擣orrest Gander, Wall Street Journal
"[Final Matters by Szil谩rd Borb茅ly and translated by Ottie Mulzet] is stirring and unlike any other book I have read, and the bilingual format is important 鈥� as it preserves the original Hungarian, and fights against the trend of making it seem like all literature is written in English . . . Mulzet has undoubtedly brought readers a great gift by bringing these multi-layered poems into English."鈥擜viya Kushner, Forward
"The posthumous Final Matters: Selected Poems, 2004鈥�2010, published last year in a bilingual edition and likewise translated by Mulzet into elegant and tonally astute English for 快色直播鈥檚 Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation series (edited by Peter Cole, Richard Sieburth, and Rosanna Warren) is the last installment in this lifelong study of devastation."鈥擟arla Baricz, Los Angeles Review of 快色直播
"Szil谩rd Borb茅ly's life鈥檚 work is as significant as it is tragic. He was a poet鈥攁 great poet鈥攚ho shatters us."鈥擫谩szl贸 Krasznahorkai, winner of the Man Booker International Prize
鈥淪zil谩rd Borb茅ly was one of the best and most original poets and novelists of his generation鈥攁nd Ottilie Mulzet is a wonderful translator of his work: her ear for nuance is excellent and precise.鈥濃�擥eorge Szirtes, award-winning poet and translator
