A great masterpiece never before available in English, Kornél Esti is the wild final book by a Hungarian genius. Crazy, funny and gorgeously dark, Kornél Esti sets into rollicking action a series of adventures about a man and his wicked dopplegänger, who breathes every forbidden idea of his childhood into his ear, and then reappears decades later. Part Gogol, part Chekhov, and all brilliance, Kosztolányi in his final book serves up his most magical, radical, and intoxicating work. Here is a novel which inquires: What if your id (loyally keeping your name) decides to strike out on its own, cuts a disreputable swath through the world, and then sends home to you all its unpaid bills and ruined maidens? And then: What if you and your alter ego decide to write a book together?

At the point of its creation in 1873, Budapest was intended to be a pleasant rallying point of orderliness, high culture and elevated social principles: the jewel in the national crown. From the turn of the century to World War II, however, the Hungarian capital was described, variously, as: Judapest, the sinful city, not in Hungary, and the Chicago of the Balkans. This is the first English-language study of competing metropolitan narratives in Hungarian literature that spans both the liberal late Habsburg and post-liberal, 'Christian-national' eras, at the same time as the 'Jewish Question' became increasingly inseparable from representations of the city. Works by writers from a wide variety of backgrounds are discussed, from Jewish satirists to icons of the radical Right, representatives of conservative national schools, and modernist, avant-garde and 'peasantist' authors. Gwen Jones is Hon. Research Associate at the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London.

Aspasia is an international peer-reviewed yearbook that brings out the best scholarship in the field of interdisciplinary women's and gender historyfocused on - and produced in - Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. In this region the field of women's and gender history has developed uevenly and has remained only marginally represented in the "international" canon.

Specialists focus on Hungary's outstanding achievments in various fields, notably technology, literature and the arts, and sport. The volume includes a biographical dictionary, map, and illustrations.

Hungarian literature is far from having reached the attention and appreciation of the English speaking reader. Our series of essays proposes an «introduction» to rather than a «reappraisal» of this literature which, though unknown, deserves an honorable place among other literatures of the world. Its roots go back to the sources which have been feeding Western art: Christianity and Humanism. Now, if all the other national literatures participate in the universal concert of arts, literature of Hungary, too, would like to make its voice heard, its beauty known. What fascinates the Hungarian writer is not «psychology» or «destiny»; it is history which inspires him courage and perseverance in fighting for the survival of his nation. His authentic poetry saves his artistry from becoming «chauvinistic». On reading these essays, one will enjoy learning how the Hungarians feel about being placed in this narrow corridor of Europe, between East and West, where they witness history in its making.

This reference work is comprised of two volumes treating the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, three volumes on the Romantics, and four volumes dealing with twentieth century authors. Scholar's new to literary history and criticism should find the balanced, well written essays on included authors a solid introduction.