Journey by Moonlight (novel)

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Journey by Moonlight

Author	Antal Szerb
Original title	Utas és holdvilág
Translator	Len Rix
Country	Hungary
Language	Hungarian
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	Pushkin Press
Publication date	1937 (this Eng. trans. 2001)
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	368 pp (this Eng. trans. first edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 1-901285-37-5 (this Eng. trans. first edition, hardback)

Journey by Moonlight (in Hungarian, Utas és holdvilág which literally means "Traveler and Moonlight") is among the best-known novels in Hungarian literature. Written by Antal Szerb, it was first published in 1937.

[edit] Plot introduction

The novel features the romantic figure of Mihály, aloof and poetic but struggling to break with an adolescent rebelliousness which he tries to quell under respectable bourgeois conformism but also with the disturbing attraction of an erotic death-wish. While there is no doubt an element of (the then especially influential and risqué) Freudianism in this, as well as perhaps the sexual and emotional claustrophobia of a society with strong Catholic and martial traditions, it is also has a distinct originality.^{[citation needed]}

The novel follows Mihály, a Budapest native from a bourgeois family on his honeymoon in Italy, as he encounters and attempts to make sense of his past.

[edit] Characters in "Journey by Moonlight"

Mihály – a native resident of Budapest
Erzsi – Mihály's wife

[edit] Release details

Len Rix's translation, titled Journey by Moonlight (ISBN 1-901285-50-5) is currently in print.

1937, Hungary, Révai ISBN ?, Pub date ? ? 1937, paperback (Hungarian first edition)
2001, USA, Pushkin Press ISBN 1-901285-37-5, Pub date 1 May 2001, paperback (as "Journey by Moonlight" - this trans. first edition)
2006, USA, Pushkin Press ISBN 1-901285-50-5, Pub date 27 February 2006, paperback (as "Journey by Moonlight")

Beside English, the novel has been translated into German, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch.