Imre Kertész
Imre Kertész in Szeged (2007)
Born	(1929-11-09) 9 November 1929 (age 82) Budapest, Hungary
Occupation	Novelist
Ethnicity	Jewish
Notable work(s)	Fatelessness Kaddish for a Child Not Born Liquidation
Notable award(s)	Nobel Prize in Literature 2002

Imre Kertész (Hungarian pronunciation: [imrɛ ˈkɛrteːs]; born 9 November 1929) is a Hungarian Jewish author, Holocaust concentration camp survivor, and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature, "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history".^[1] Born in Budapest, Hungary, he resides in Berlin with his wife.^[2]

Background[link]

During World War II, Kertész was deported at the age of 14 with other Hungarian Jews to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and was later sent to Buchenwald.^[2] His best-known work, Fatelessness (Sorstalanság), describes the experience of 15-year-old György (George) Köves in the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Zeitz. Some have interpreted the book as quasi-autobiographical, but the author disavows a strong biographical connection. In 2005, a film based on the novel, for which he wrote the script, was made in Hungary.^[3] Although sharing the same title, the film is more autobiographical than the book: it was released internationally at various dates in 2005 and 2006.

Kertész's writings translated into English include Kaddish for a Child Not Born (Kaddis a meg nem született gyermekért) and Liquidation (Felszámolás). Kertész initially found little appreciation for his writing in Hungary^[2] and moved to Germany. Kertész started translating German works into Hungarian^[2] — such as The Birth of Tragedy by Nietzsche, the plays of Dürrenmatt, Schnitzler and Tankred Dorst, the thoughts of Wittgenstein — and did not publish another novel until the late 1980s.^[3] He continues to write in Hungarian and submits his works to publishers in Hungary.

He criticized Steven Spielberg's depiction of the Holocaust in his 1993 film Schindler's List as kitsch, saying: "I regard as kitsch any representation of the Holocaust that is incapable of understanding or unwilling to understand the organic connection between our own deformed mode of life and the very possibility of the Holocaust."^[4]

List of works[link]

• Fateless (Sorstalanság) (1975). English Translations:

• Fateless, 1992 (ISBN 0-8101-1049-0 and ISBN 0-8101-1024-5),
• Fatelessness, 2004 (ISBN 1-4000-7863-6)

• A nyomkereső (The Pathseeker) (1977)
• Detektívtörténet (A Detective Story) (1977)
• A kudarc (The Failure) (1988)

• Fiasco, 2011 (ISBN 1-9355-5429-8)

• Kaddis a meg nem született gyermekért (1990). English Translations:

• Kaddish for an Unborn Child (translated by Tim Wilkinson), 2004, ISBN 1-4000-7862-8
• Kaddish for a Child Not Born (translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson), 1999, ISBN 0-8101-1161-6

• Az angol lobogó (The Union Jack) (1991)
• Gályanapló (Galley Boat-Log) (1992)
• A holocaust mint kultúra: három előadás (The Holocaust As Culture: Three Lectures) (1993)
• Jegyzőkönyv (The Minutes of Meeting) (1993)
• Valaki más : a változás krónikája (Someone Other: The Cronicle of the Changing) (1997)
• A gondolatnyi csend, amíg a kivégzőosztag újratölt (A Breath-long Silence, While the Fire Squad is Reloading Their Guns) (1998)
• A száműzött nyelv (A Language in Exile) (2001)
• Felszámolás (Liquidation) (2003)
• K. dosszié (File "K.") (2006)
• Európa nyomasztó öröksége (Europe's Depressing Heritage) (2008)

Works of Imre Kertész in English

• Fatelessness (translated by Tim Wilkinson), New York: Knopf, 2004.
• Fateless (translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson), Northwestern University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-8101-1049-0
• Kaddish for an Unborn Child (translated by Tim Wilkinson), Vintage, 2004. ISBN 1-4000-7862-8
• Kaddish for a Child Not Born (translated by Christopher C. Wilson and Katharina M. Wilson), Evanston, Illinois: Hydra Books, 1997, ISBN 0-8101-1161-6
• Liquidation (translated by Tim Wilkinson, Knopf, 2004, ISBN 1-4000-4153-8
• Detective Story (translated by Tim Wilkinson), Harvill Secker, 2008, ISBN 1-84655-183-8
• The Pathseeker (translated by Tim Wilkinson), Melville House Publishing, 2008, ISBN 978-1-933633-53-4
• The Union Jack (translated by Tim Wilkinson), Melville House Publishing, 2010, ISBN 978-1-933633-87-9
• Fiasco (translated by Tim Wilkinson), Melville House Publishing, 2011, ISBN 978-1-935554-29-5

Further reading[link]

• Vasvári, Louise O., and Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven, eds. Imre Kertész and Holocaust Literature. West Lafayette: Purdue UP, 2005.[1]
  
• Vasvári, Louise O., and Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven, eds. Comparative Central European Holocaust Studies. West Lafayette: Purdue UP, 2009.[2]
  
• Molnár, Sára. "Nobel in Literature 2002 Imre Kertész's Aesthetics of the Holocaust," CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 5.1 (2003)[3]
  
• Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven. "And the 2002 Nobel Prize for Literature Goes to Imre Kertész, Jew and Hungarian," CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 5.1 (2003)[4]
  
• Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven. "Imre Kertész's Nobel Prize, Public Discourse, and the Media," CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 7.4 (2005)[5]

See also[link]

• List of Jewish Nobel laureates

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Imre Kertész

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Imre Kertész

• Article on Kertész
• The Last Word - an interview with Kertész from Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance Project: "Forget You Not"
• Fateless at the Internet Movie Database  Hungary
• Imre Kertész—Nobel Lecture
• B.-ing There, a review of the novel Liquidation by Ben Ehrenreich, Village Voice, December 20, 2004

v t e Works by Imre Kertész Novels Sorstalanság A nyomkereső Detektívtörténet A kudarc Kaddis a meg nem született gyermekért Az angol lobogó Gályanapló A holocaust mint kultúra : három előadás Valaki más : a változás krónikája A gondolatnyi csend, amíg a kivégzőosztag újratölt A száműzött nyelv Felszámolás Short stories "Jegyzőkönyv"

Awards received by Imre Kertész v t e Nobel Laureates in Literature (2001–2025) V. S. Naipaul (2001) Imre Kertész (2002) J. M. Coetzee (2003) Elfriede Jelinek (2004) Harold Pinter (2005) Orhan Pamuk (2006) Doris Lessing (2007) J. M. G. Le Clézio (2008) Herta Müller (2009) Mario Vargas Llosa (2010) Tomas Tranströmer (2011) Complete list (1901–1925) (1926–1950) (1951–1975) (1976–2000) (2001–2025) v t e 2002 Nobel Prize winners Chemistry: John Bennett Fenn (United States) Koichi Tanaka (Japan) Kurt Wüthrich (Switzerland) Literature: Imre Kertész (Hungary) Peace: Jimmy Carter (United States) Physics: Raymond Davis, Jr. (United States) Masatoshi Koshiba (Japan) Riccardo Giacconi (United States) Physiology or Medicine: Sydney Brenner (United Kingdom) H. Robert Horvitz (United States) John E. Sulston (United Kingdom) Nobel Prize recipients 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 v t e Hungarian or Hungarian-Born Nobel Laureates       Lénárd Fülöp (1905) Bárány Róbert (1914) Zsigmondy Richárd (1925) Szent-Györgyi Albert (1937) Hevesy György (1943) Békésy György (1961) Wigner Jenő (1963) Gábor Dénes (1971) Polányi János (1986) Harsányi János (1994) Oláh György (1994) Kertész Imre (2002) Avram Hershko (2004)

v t e Hungarian literature Early sources Funeral Sermon and Prayer Old Hungarian Lamentations of Mary Gesta Hungarorum Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum Chronicon Pictum Sándor Petőfi 15th – 17th century Bálint Balassi Péter Bornemisza Albert Gergei István Gyöngyösi Gáspár Heltai János Sylvester Sebestyén Tinódi Lantos Janus Pannonius Péter Pázmány János Rimay Miklós Zrínyi 18th – 19th century Zoltán Ambrus János Arany József Bajza János Batsányi Elek Benedek Dániel Berzsenyi Miklós Bethlen Sándor Bródy Gergely Csiky Mihály Csokonai Vitéz József Eötvös Mihály Fazekas János Garay Géza Gárdonyi Ignotus Mór Jókai József Kármán József Katona Ferenc Kazinczy Zsigmond Kemény Károly Kisfaludy Sándor Kisfaludy Ferenc Kölcsey Imre Madách Kelemen Mikes Kálmán Mikszáth Sándor Petőfi István Széchenyi Ede Szigligeti Mihály Tompa János Vajda Mihály Vörösmarty 20th century Endre Ady Lajos Áprily Mihály Babits Béla Balázs Miklós Bánffy Géza Csáth Tibor Déry György Faludy István Fekete Miksa Fenyő Jolán Földes Milán Füst Andor Endre Gelléri Géza Gyóni Béla Hamvas Jenő Heltai Ferenc Herczeg Gyula Illyés Éva Janikovszky Attila József Gyula Juhász Margit Kaffka László Kálnoky Ferenc Karinthy Frigyes Karinthy Lajos Kassák Géza Képes János Kodolányi Károly Kós Dezső Kosztolányi Gyula Krúdy Ervin Lázár Menyhért Lengyel Iván Mándy Sándor Márai Ferenc Molnár Ferenc Móra Zsigmond Móricz Gáspár Nagy Lajos Nagy László Nagy Ágnes Nemes Nagy László Németh József Nyírő Géza Ottlik István Örkény Géza Páskándi János Pilinszky Miklós Radnóti Jenő Rejtő Sándor Reményik Sándor Sík István Sinka András Sütő Dezső Szabó Lőrinc Szabó Magda Szabó Sándor Szathmári Mária Szepes Antal Szerb Domokos Szilágyi Áron Tamási Józsi Jenő Tersánszky Árpád Tóth István Tömörkény Albert Wass Sándor Weöres Lajos Zilahy Péter Zsoldos Contemporary Tamás Cseh Sándor Csoóri István Csukás Péter Esterházy Ágnes Gergely Márton Gerlóczy Gábor Görgey Anna Jókai Ferenc Juhász Sándor Kányádi Márton Karinthy Ákos Kertész Imre Kertész György Konrád László Krasznahorkai Péter Lengyel László L. Lőrincz Béla Markó György Moldova Péter Müller Péter Nádas Ádám Nádasdy Gábor Nógrádi Imre Oravecz Zsolt Őz Lajos Parti Nagy Zsuzsa Rácz Zsuzsa Rakovszky András Réz Pál Salamon Richárd Salinger György Spiró Károly Szakonyi Dezső Tandori Miklós Vámos Category:Hungarian writers