European Literature in Translation: Voices from Eastern Europe

10 weekly sessions, on Fridays at 11am - 1pm, starting from Friday 23 January.

Overview

On this course we will be looking at three novels from eastern Europe, from countries which were formerly part of the Eastern bloc: Albania, Hungary and Poland. Though very different from each other in many ways, all the writers - Kadare, Kertesz and Tokarczuk – explore fundamental questions about community, childhood, the effects of war and repression, travel and the true meaning of progress.

Ismail Kadare’s 1971 novel Chronicle in Stone describes life in a small Albanian city in World War Two, and is largely told through the eyes of a child, its style combining elements of epic, folklore, tragedy and the surreal.

Fatelessness, by Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertesz from 1975, is a semi-autobiographical story about a teenaged Hungarian Jew’s experiences in Auschwitz and Buchenwald told through a unique and unsettling voice.

Finally Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights (2007) is a fragmentary novel which mixes reflections on travel and profound explorations of life, death, and migration through a series of real and imagined characters. Like all Tokarczuk’s works it is startlingly original.

The class has run for many years and the atmosphere is supportive and collaborative. Students generally read texts in advance of the classes, and sections are read and discussed along with selected critical writing.

Syllabus

Background to Kadare and Albania – early chapters of Chronicle in Stone
Chronicle in Stone
Chronicle in Stone
Background to Kertesz and Hungary – early chapters of Fatelessness
Fatelessness
Fatelessness
Background to Tokarczuk and Poland – early sections of Flights
Flights
Flights
Reflections on the term

Course lecturer

Mark Halton is a retired English teacher with an MA from Liverpool in Victorian Literature, as well as a lifelong interest in European languages and literature.

Course fee

Standard fee: £155
Concession fee: £80