HUNGARY

   Sf in the modern sense evolved tentatively in Hungary in the 1870s, although it had had forerunners. The end of the 18th century was characterized by the popularity of FANTASTIC VOYAGES and UTOPIAS. French and other sources inspired Tarimenes utazasa ("The Voyage of Tarimenes") (1804) by Gyorgy Bessenyei (1747-1811). The hero, who gets to an unknowncountry, not only describes the perfect order of the state but also presents a copy of its constitution. Another important fantastic utopia was Utazas a Holdba ("Voyage to the Moon") (1836) by Ferenc Ney (1814-1899), a novel in which travellers find that the Moon has everythingthey miss on Earth: the possibility of happiness and the happiness of equality. Janos Munkacsy (1802-1841), in his Hogy all a vilag a jovo szazadban? ("How Stands the World in the Next Century?") (1838), describes the wonderful future development of TRANSPORTATION and many social changes: deadly WEAPONS are put aside and conflicts between states are settled by competitive poetry recitals. The first Hungarian SPACE OPERA was Vegnapok ("The Final Days") (1847) by Miklos Josika (1794-1865). This apocalyptic novel had an immense success. The story takes place on Earth in a FAR-FUTURE ice age.Mor JOKAI is justly regarded as the greatest author produced by Hungary. He was very prolific - his collected works run to several hundred volumes. His most important works of fantasy and sf are Oceania about a romantic ATLANTIS, Fekete gyemantok (1870; trans A. Gerardas Black Diamonds 1896), set in a North Polar sea, Egesz az eszaki polusig("All the Way to the North Pole") (1876), in which ancient patriarchs and fairy-like ladies are revived from frozen hibernation to facilitate the author's criticism of contemporary society, and Ahol a penz nem Isten("Where Money is not a God") (1904), describing the life of a happy island community, and hinting at the possibility of the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Along with these sometimes Edgar Allan POE-likefantasies comes Jokai's most significant sf novel, A jovo szazad regenye("The Novel of the Next Century") (1872), whose story is founded in the invention of a marvellous new material, "ichor". Airplanes made of ichor serve the heroes, who dominate global communications and trade; declaring war on anarchistic Russia, they fight the last war of mankind and create eternal peace. The novel then moves onto the cosmic scale: a comet menaces Earth but is fought off by mankind, the Moon is colonized and the SolarSystem is conquered.Jokai's disciple Titusz Tovolgyi (1838-1918) wrote a surprisingly interesting novel about the future socialist state: Az uj vilag ("The New World") (1888). Elsewhere, besides sociopolitical novels there were fantasies of markedly scientific foundation, like Repulogepen a Holdba ("On an Airplane to the Moon") (1899) by Istvan Makay (1870-1935),another Jokai disciple, which, antedating H.G. WELLS, describes a society of cave-dwelling Selenites. Barna Arthur ("Arthur Barna") (1880) by Gusztav Beksics (1847-1906) has an African volcano spreading flowing goldover the country, with the consequent bankruptcy of trusts, banks and states.In the first half of the 20th century the authors gathering around the journal Nyugat ("West") were attracted almost without exception to the fantastic, and with them sf reached artistic heights once more; they include Dezso Kosztolanyi (1885-1935), Geza Csath (1888-1919), Geza Laczko (1884-1953), Gyula Szini (1876-1932), Laszlo Cholnoky (1879-1929), BelaBalazs (1884-1949) and Margit Kaffka (1880-1918). Unfortunately, only two names are known in the English-speaking world: Frigyes KARINTHY and Mihaly BABITS.Karinthy wrote a good many stories about TIME TRAVEL, DISASTER, PSIPOWERS and so on, but these are surpassed by his philosophical novels. Utazas Faremidoba (1916) and Capillaria (1921), which have been assembled as Voyage to Faremido/Capillaria (omni trans Paul TABORI 1965 Hungary; 1966 US), are sardonic sequels to Jonathan SWIFT's stories of Gulliver andhis travels. The former deals with problems of AI and the latter describes the conflict between men and women in an UNDER-THE-SEA empire. Mennyei riport ("A Report from the Heavens") (1937), the surprising story of a journey to the next world, is an important precursor of modern sf.The novels of the poet Mihaly Babits stand out for their literary merit and for the interest of their ideas. In Golyakalifa ("Storks' Caliph") (1916; trans as King's Stork 1948 Hungary; retrans anon as The Nightmare 1966), his first novel, he created a world of pure fantasy; the protagonist is a young man living a surreal double life. Another novel, Elza pilota, avagy a tokeletes tarsadalom ("The Pilot Elza, or The Perfect Society") (1933), is a description of an episode in an age of eternal war, its protest against fascism being pointed at a time when fascism was spreading rapidly.Utazas Kazohiniaban ("A Voyage in Kazohinia") (1941 censored; text restored 1946) by Sandor Szathmary (1897-1974) is a bitter, Swiftian (and Karinthyan) SATIRE describing a new journey of Gulliver. Kazohinia isdivided into two parts, one where exaggerated rationalism prevails, the other ruled by the uncontrolled power of the instincts.In the Fall of 1945 Laszlo Gaspar (? -) produced his short novel Mi, I. Adolf ("We, Adolf 1")(1945), subtitled "If the Germans had Won". In this postwar nightmare, fascism rules by terror and weaponry, and all peoples are slaves of the Germans (HITLER WINS).The two decades after WWII did not favour Hungariansf - Soviet sf, along with the theoretical views it espoused, dominated the sf published in Hungary-and only one item from this period is memorable: Az ibolyaszinu feny ("The Violet Light") (1956) by Peter Foldes (1916-), a juvenile adventure that presents interesting ideas. In 1968,however, the publishing house Mora began a paperback sf series under the imprint Kozmosz Fantasztikus Konyvek. In 1972 Mora followed this with the magazine Galaktika, ed Peter KUCZKA, which started as a quarterly and is now a monthly, with a circulation of 50,000. Its younger stablemate (since 1985) is Robur, a bimonthly sf magazine for juvenile readers, with acirculation of 80,000-100,000. Other publishers now publish sf, though the Mora book series, also long under the editorship of Kuczka, remains themost significant.Today 25-30 authors in Hungary are engaged in sf, although many of them work also in other genres. Among the older authors is Maria Szepes (1908-), who in Tukorajto a tengerben ("Mirror Door in the Sea") (1976), Surayana elo szobrai ("Living Statues of Surayana") (1971) and Napszel ("Sunwind") (1983) draws her figures of fantasy withgreat psychological force. She introduced ESP motifs to Hungarian sf, mainly through her first and most influential novel, A voros oroszlan("The Red Lion") (1946), the story of an alchemist living through the centuries and from sin to redemption. Ivan Boldizsar (1912-1988) belonged to the same generation; his Szuletesnap ("Birthday") (1959) is a TIME-TRAVEL novel. The most famous book of Istvan Elek (1915-) is ajuvenile adventure, Merenylet a vilagurben ("An Attempt in Space") (1967). Jozsef Cserna (1899-1975) wrote a number of admonitory stories aboutnuclear WAR, the destruction of the ECOLOGY and other dangers menacing mankind.Next comes the generation of writers now in their 50s and 60s, like Gyula Fekete (1922-), an excellent novelist in the realistic tradition. His sf works are all utopian and educational, whether set on unknown islands or on distant planets. In A szerelmesek bolygoja ("Planet of Lovers") (1964) he deals satirically with juvenile morals and life-values; in Triszex ("Trisex") (1974) he predicts changes in family life and in human relationships. His most famous work is A kek sziget("The Blue Island") (1976), a harmonious UTOPIA. Gyula Hernadi (1926-) is a restless, experimenting author; he blends surrealism with real and fictitious documents. His significant novels are Az erod ("The Fortress") (1971), Az elnokasszony ("Madame President") (1978) and Hasfelmetszo Jack("Jack the Ripper") (1982). Zoltan Csernai (1925-) is one of the mostpopular sf writers. His main focus is on encounters between ALIENS and humans in the past and present; this provides the background to his trilogy Titok a vilag tetejen ("Secret on the Top of the World") (1961), Az ozonviz balladaja ("The Ballad of the Flood") (1964) and Atlantisz("Atlantis") (1968). His Boldogsagcsinalok ("Producers of Happiness")(1974) is an interesting psychological novel. Among his several short stories, "Kovek" ("Stones") (1974) is perhaps the best of all Hungarian sf short stories; it has been much translated. Peter Zsoldos (1930-) is an sf author in the US-UK tradition, his recurrent subjects being SPACE FLIGHT and ROBOTS. His best novels are Feladat ("The Task") (1971),Ellenpont ("Counterpoint") (1973), Tavoli tuz ("A Distant Fire") (1969), A Viking visszater ("Return of the Viking") (1967) and A holtak nem vetnek arnyekot ("The Dead Cast No Shadows") (1983). Ervin Gyertyan (1925-) prefers a humorous, satirical attitude Kibernerosz ("Cyberneros") (1963) and Isten ovd az elnokot! ("God Save the President!") (1971), paying special attention to the differences between Man and MACHINE, and also to the nature of identity. Two sf works by Miklos Ronaszegi (1930-), A rovarok lazadasa ("Revolt of the Insects") (1969) and Ordogi liquor("Liquor of the Devil") (1972), were published as juveniles, although there is nothing juvenile about their themes: the first analyses the mechanisms of fascism and the second unveils ways in which modern society dehumanizes and manipulates.Novels of adventure and scientific inspiration have been written also by Klara Feher (1922-), Laszlo Nemes (1920-) and Tibor Dane (1923-). Dezso Kemeny (1925-) melds sf with the crime story.Az utolso ember ("The Last Man") (1982) by Peter Bogati (1924-), a ROBINSONADE about the last survivor of world HOLOCAUST, bears comparison with better-known treatments of the subject. Laszlo Andras (1919-1988), Gyorgy Nemes (1910-), Andras Kurti (1922-) and Rudolf Weinbrenner(1923-1987) are all writers who have enriched Hungarian sf with one or two books. A rather different coloration can be found in A Kozmosz tizenotodik torvenye ("The Fifteenth Law of the Cosmos") (1984) by Mihaly Gergely (1921-), a novel in which alien visitors try to force humanity into peaceand intelligent cooperation.Perhaps the most important member of the younger generation is Peter Szentmihalyi Szabo (1945-). His collection of short stories A sebezhetetlen ("The Invulnerable") (coll 1978) tries out every voice and technique of sf; A tokeletes valtozat ("The Perfect Variety") (1983) is a DYSTOPIA about contradictory social systems in thedistant future. Two very prolific younger authors are Laszlo L. Lorincz (1939-) and Istvan Nemere (1944-). Lorincz's collection of short storiesA nagy kupola szegyene ("The Shame of the Great Dome") (coll 1982) deals with CRIME AND PUNISHMENT and with problems of social isolation. His novels, such as A hosszu szafari ("The Long Safari") (1984) and A foldalatti piramis ("The Underground Pyramid") (1986), are much appreciated for their exciting plots, richness of ideas and beautiful style. Nemere's most successful novels (out of about 60) are A kozmosz korbacsa ("The Whip of the Cosmos") (1982), Az acelcapa ("The Steel Shark") (1982) and A neutron akcio ("The Neutron Project") (1982).OneMAINSTREAM WRITER who has occasionally turned to sf is Peter Lengyel, who wrote the prizewinning Ogg masodik bolygoja ("Ogg's Second Planet") (1969).

   PK