Krúdy's chronicles

by Gyula Krúdy

"Gyula Krudy is one of the towering figures of twentieth century Hungarian literature. In addition to a stunning array of fiction - over eighty novels and stories - Krudy's non-fiction output is considerable, about eighteen hundred items of journalistic writing. These writings constitute a colourful and closely observed 'chronicle' of Hungary in the first decades of the twentieth century.". "Written during the 1910s, 20s and 30s, these articles offer a wistful and nostalgic image of the waning years of the Austro-Hungarian empire, with portraits of the Habsburgs, culminating in first-hand reports in 1916, from Vienna on the funeral of Emperor Francis Joseph I, and from Budapest on the coronation of Charles IV, the last king of Hungary. Krudy's reports follow the bloodless democratic revolution of 1918, the Karolyi government and the short-lived Soviet Republic, and present cameos of the leading political figures of the day such as Ferenc Kossuth, Mihaly Karolyi and Bela Kun."--BOOK JAC