The Fawn

Synopsis

Eszter Encsy has spent a lifetime collecting grievances. Once a lonely child growing up in poverty in provincial Hungary, she has reinvented herself as a celebrated actress in postwar Budapest. Yet success has done little to quiet the bitterness she carries toward the people who shaped her life, especially Angela, the beautiful and effortlessly kind classmate whose compassion became a source of humiliation rather than comfort. Over the course of a single day, Eszter recounts the memories, betrayals, and resentments that have defined her, forcing both herself and the reader to confront the devastating weight of a life lived in anger.

Written with extraordinary psychological depth, The Fawn is one of Magda Szabó's most piercing novels. Through Eszter's fiercely intelligent, unreliable voice, Szabó explores class, shame, envy, love, and the lasting wounds left by war and political upheaval. At once intimate and unsettling, it is a remarkable portrait of how bitterness can become both a prison and a form of identity.

About the Author

Magda Szabó (1917–2007) is widely regarded as one of Hungary's greatest twentieth-century writers. The author of novels, poetry, essays, and plays, her work has been translated into more than forty languages. Internationally celebrated for The Door, Abigail, Katalin Street, and Iza's Ballad, Szabó is renowned for her psychologically rich portraits of women and her exploration of memory, history, and moral complexity. This edition is translated by the award-winning translator Len Rix.

Publisher

NYRB Classics

Publication Date

March 28, 2023

Format

Paperback

Pages

288

Subjects

Literary Fiction · Fiction in Translation · Hungarian Literature · Psychological Fiction · Modern Classics

ISBN

9781681377377