Zsuzsa Rakovszky

ZSUZSA RAKOVSZKY (Sopron, 1950), literary translator, poet, short story writer, and novelist, is a prominent author of imaginative literature in Hungary today. Known in the first decades of her career as a poet, in 2002 she achieved immediate success as a writer of prose with the publication of her novel A kígyó árnyéka (The Serpent’s Shadow), soon followed by her second novel, A hullócsillag éve (2005, The Year of the Falling Star). Rakovszky has also won acclaim as a literary translator, translating both prose and poetry from English into Hungarian. She is the recipient of numerous literary awards, including the Jozsef Attila Díj (Attila József Prize) in 1988, the Magyar Irodalmi Díj (Hungarian Literary Prize) in 2002, and the Kossuth Prize in 2010. English translations of her poetry have appeared in several anthologies (Child of Europe, 1990; As if..., 1991; The Colonnade of Teeth: Modern Hungarian Poetry, 1996) and 1994 an English language collection of her poems was published by Oxford University Press under the title New Life.

THE SERPENT’S SHADOW – AN EXCERPT

Written in best conscience by Ursula Binder, born Ursula Lehmann, in the 1666th year of our Lord, in the waning days of my old age and penury, on the events of my life, especially those of my childhood and youth. I remember, I always loved to watch the fire. If

2011.01.03.

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