Journey by Moonlight

Journey by Moonlight was originally published in 1937. The novel is considered one of the most outstanding pieces of modernist writing in Hungarian. The story about newlywed businessman Mihály, who realizes he is not ready to be Erzsi’s husband, and then sets off for Italy, conveys much of the same feeling of aimlessness and confusion as writings of Kafka and Musil (whose works have been available in Norwegian for decades). Again and again, Mihály realizes that he has misjudged his environment, including his wife and his own past. There is a universal quality to Szerb’s novel that makes gives it an enduring appeal, and in the 2000s the book was translated anew into Swedish, French, and German. It is high time for this marvelous short novel to come out in Norwegian.

As more than 80 years have passed since the initial publication of the work, the rights are free For this reason, there is no right contract attached to this application.

Antal Szerb was an author, translator, and professor of literary history. He was born in 1901 into a Jewish family. During the Second World War, he was relieved of his professorship in Szeged and then tragically tortured to death in prison.