Traveler and the Moonlight

Special 70th Anniversary American Edition A new translation by writer and poet Peter Hargitai

"Writer and poet Peter Hargitai, working on an English translation of Utas s holdvil g Traveler and the Moonlight] in 1988, met with Szerb's widow, Kl ra, curious to know whether there had been real-life models for the novel's characters-particularly for Tam s and va, who intrigued him above all the others. In answer, Kl ra Szerb pointed out a framed photograph on a bookshelf: 'a youngish man with a pale, aristocratic, melancholy face.'

'This is Tam s, ' Mrs. Szerb said. 'My husband's beloved schoolmate.'

'And va? Who is va?' I asked.

She held up that very picture. 'This is also va. Tam s and va are one and the same.'

Kl ra Szerb went on to insist that Hargitai keep the secret of Tam s and va's single biographical precedent until after her death. And there we have a clue, not only to the mysterious androgyny of Tam s and va, and to the sexually unconventional nature of Mih ly's relationship with them, but also perhaps to an unresolved chapter from Szerb's past, one that held mysteries potent enough to give rise to a novel." Julie Orringer
Author of The Invisible Bridge

"I hope The Traveler reaches thousands and thousands of readers." Elie Wiesel Distinguished Nobel Laureate

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 02/12/2016
ISBN: 9781491789285
Pages: 280
Weight: 0.67lbs
Size: 7.99h x 5.00w x 0.63d