Márkus Béla - Cseres Tibor

The author of Cold Days and Statues of Prostitution is one of the most important historical novelists of recent times. In addition to these two high points of his rich career, Béla Márkus's monograph summarizes and interprets his entire oeuvre, reviews the difficulties of publication, the contemporary reception in addition to the circumstances of its creation, and at the same time - we hope - gives new impetus and new directions to the stalled reception.

"It can be said with certainty that none of his works could have been written and published under such stormy conditions, or even Cold War conditions, as [the Vízakna battles,] this novel of almost eight hundred and fifty pages. After - as discussed in his essay, Cold days: novel and film - he considered his breakthrough work as the beginning of a possible cycle, as the first piece of a possible cycle, as the first opus of the ballad of the common, terrible story that goes from people to people - their dance of death - the other pieces were made according to plan. This was confirmed by the interviews, statements,

which referred to sources studied over the years, a library of specialized literature (...) Tibor Cseres' ten years of work have been confirmed by time. He proved that even if he had feared that his business would be a temptation, because there was little hope of it being published, it was still worthwhile for him to engage in this eating. He could proudly say: The writer should always be a tempter. If you're considering it, it's over. You have to be brave because times are changing. He was encouraged by the fact that the decade, the 1980s, brought about unprecedented changes in the Hungarian historical self-perception, contrary to the officially represented political values ​​and interests of the state power, since the 1956 revolution. In terms of national self-awareness, he slowly freed from the harness of the communist party ideology historical topics that were considered forbidden and taboo for the public, public discourse, for example, and above all, the mutilation of the country at Trianon and its consequences, those that raise the minority fate of Hungarians beyond our borders..."

(Excerpt from the book)