Author(s): Antal Szerb

Fiction

When Mihaly finally succeeds in seducing Erzsi away from her first husband, he confidently takes her on honeymoon to Italy. Within days of their arrival, things start to fall apart: Mihaly is swept back to memories of his teenage years, 'loses' his bride at a provincial station and drifts away. Embarking on a chaotic and bizarre journey around Italy, the death-haunted and erotic elements of his past converge, and he, like Erzsi, has to choose his own fate. In this deeply moving and darkly funny masterpiece, Szerb explores questions of spirituality and selfhood that probe the very nature of bourgeois civilization.