"'Antal Szerb belongs with the master novelists of the 20th century' - Paul Bailey Daily Telegraph"

'It is an absolute treat, deliciously ludic, to be read with a big smile on your face throughout'

"The Pendragon Legend", set first in London and then in Wales, is a forerunner of a style currently fashionable, the philosophical thriller, though it combines other modes as well: upper-class comedy, murder-mystery and a ghost story with a compelling love interest. The mystical element, is diffused through an increasingly complex plot, as all threads converge in the final chapters. It is an essentially experimental novel, the fore-runner to "Journey by Moonlight", Szerb's quintessential amalgamation of the romantic, the mystical and the transcendental. It is translated by Paul Vincent.

"The Pendragon Legend", set first in London and then in Wales, is a forerunner of a style currently fashionable, the philosophical thriller, though it combines other modes as well: upper-class comedy, murder-mystery and a ghost story with a compelling love interest. The mystical element, is diffused through an increasingly complex plot, as all threads converge in the final chapters. It is an essentially experimental novel, the fore-runner to "Journey by Moonlight", Szerb's quintessential amalgamation of the romantic, the mystical and the transcendental. It is translated by Paul Vincent.

A new translation into English of a classic of Hungarian Literature

ANTAL SZERB was born in 1901 into a cultivated Budapest family of Jewish descent. Graduating in German and English, he rapidly established himself as a prolific scholar, publishing books on drama and poetry, studies of Ibsen and Blake, and histories of English, Hungarian, and world literature. In 1933 he was elected President of the Hungarian Literary Academy. His first novel, The Pendragon Legend, is a gently ironical murder-mystery set in Wales and steeped in alchemical philosophy. Journey by Moonlight appeared in 1937, followed by The Queen's Necklace, essays and novellas. He died in a forced labour camp at Balf in January 1945.

"My way is to begin at the beginning," said Lord Byron, who knew his way around good society.
Strictly speaking, I suppose all my stories begin with the fact that I was born in Budapest and that soon after?
though it escaped my attention at the time?I was given the name I still bear today, Janos Batky.
I pass over the events of the next thirty-two years?which include the Great War?between my birth and my first encounter with the Earl of Gwynedd, for he rather than myself is the hero of this remarkable tale.
So, to our first meeting.
Early one summer, with the London season drawing to its close, I was at a soirée at Lady Malmsbury-Croft's. This kind lady had taken me under her wing ever since my time as Donald Campbell's scientific secretary. I should explain that my occupation is to assist elderly Englishmen in the pursuit of their intellectual whims. Not to earn my living, as it happens: I have a small inheritance from my mother on which I can get by in whatever country I choose. For some years now that country has been England. I am extremely fond of its noble landscapes.
During the course of the evening the hostess seized me and led me off to a tall, grey-haired gentleman with the most wonderfully impressive head. He was seated in an armchair and smiling silently to himself.
"Your Lordship," said she, "this is Mr John Batky, the expert on mediaeval British insectivores?or was it old Italian threshing machines??I really can't remember at this moment. But whatever it is, I know you'll find it absolutely fascinating."
And with that she left us.
For some time we smiled benignly at one another. The Earl had a remarkably handsome head, of the sort one sees wreathed in laurel on the frontispiece of old books: a kind you don't often see nowadays.
At the same time, I was rather embarrassed. I felt the noble lady's somewhat inexact description had made me appear mildly ludicrous.
"Allow me, if I may," the Earl began at last, "to ask what our hostess actually meant."
"My Lord, the sorry truth is that the good lady was to some extent right. I am a Doctor of Philosophy, specialising in useless information, with a particular interest in things a normal person would never consider."
This was a facetious attempt to fend off a more serious topic, namely, what I actually do. I have found that the English do not approve of displays of intellectual curiosity.
A strange smile crossed the Earl's face.
"Not at all. I am quite happy to talk about serious topics. I am not English. I am Welsh. That makes me, apparently, fifty-percent more like a Continental. No Englishman, by the way, would ever ask you your occupation.
However, for my own intellectual satisfaction, I must insist on an answer to the question."
He had such an intelligent-looking head that I blurted out the truth.
"At the moment I?m working on the English mystics of the seventeenth-century."
"Are you indeed?' the Earl exclaimed. "Then Lady Malmsbury-Croft has made another of her miraculous blunders. She always does. If she gets two men to sit with each other thinking that they were together at Eton, you may be sure that one of them is German and the other Japanese, but both have a special interest in Liberian stamps."
"So my Lord is also a student of the subject?"
"That's a rather strong term to use, in this island of ours. You study something, we merely have hobbies. I dabble in the English mystics the way a retired general would set about exploring his family history. As it happens, those things are part of the family history. But tell me, Doctor?mysticism is a rather broad term?are you interested in it as a religious phenomenon?"
"Not really. I don't have much feeling for that aspect. What interests me within the general field is what is popularly called 'mystic'?the esoteric fantasies and procedures through which people once sought to probe nature. The alchemists, the secrets of the homunculus, the universal panacea, the influence of minerals and amulets ... Fludd's Philosophy of Nature, whereby he proved the existence of God by means of a barometer."
"Fludd?" The Earl raised his head. "Fludd shouldn?t be mentioned in the company of those idiots. Fludd, sir, wrote a lot of nonsense because he wished to explain things that couldn't be accounted for at the time. But essentially?I mean about the real essence of things?he knew much, much more than the scientists of today. They're in no position to laugh at his theories. I don't know what your opinion is, but nowadays we know a great deal about the microscopic detail. Those people knew rather more about the whole?the great interconnectedness of things?which can't be weighed on scales and cut into slices like ham."
The fervour in his eyes was certainly un-English. The subject was clearly close to his heart.

2008-05-15 Gothic mystery with tones of occult and comedy

The Pendragon Legend is an Hungarian novel from 1930s, but the story isn't particularly Hungarian. A Hungarian researcher and bibliophile János Bátky is introduced to the Earl of Pendragon and is invited to study the books in his exquisite library. Bátky soon learns that getting involved with the Pendragons can be dangerous: he is threatened by mysterious forces and many strange events happen at the Pendragon manor. Antihero Bátky is an outsider who gets drawn into quite a mess.

The story is a strange mixture of gothic horror story and light comedy. The Earl Pendragon is a gloomy old gentleman and the history of the family features legendary characters. Rosicrucianism plays an important role in the story. The Finnish publisher advertises the book as Da Vinci Code published 60 years before Dan Brown's novel. This is advertising, of course, but the books belong in the same genre.

The Pendragon Legend is a charming story. It's not high literature, but the plot is clever, Bátky is a lovely lead character and the story has a good vibe to it. I also enjoyed the old-fashioned atmosphere of the 1930's England, and the translator did a good job capturing that in the language used. The Pendragon Legend is a tasty mystery with flavours of horror and occult. (Review based on the Finnish translation.)