Mario Szenessy
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Mario Szenessy (14 September 1930 in Veliki Bečkerek,
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
(today
Zrenjanin Zrenjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Зрењанин, ; ; ; ; ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The city urban area has a population of 67,129 inh ...
,
Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
) – 11 October 1976 in
Pinneberg Pinneberg (; ) is a town in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It is the capital of the Pinneberg (district), district of Pinneberg and has a population of about 43,500 inhabitants. Pinneberg is located 18 km northw ...
,
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
(today Germany)) was a Hungarian-German
author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
,
translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
, and
literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...
.


Biography

Mario Szenessy grew up in the
Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...
in a multiethnic, multilingual environment. In 1942 his family moved to
Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...
, Hungary where he studied German and
Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...
languages and discovered the writings of
Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of real ...
and
Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...
. He became a school teacher and also taught
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
at the Medical Academy, (today
Szeged University The University of Szeged () is a public research university in Szeged, Hungary. Established as the Jesuit Academy of Kolozsvár in present-day Cluj-Napoca in 1581, the institution was re-established as a university in 1872 by Emperor Franz Jose ...
). Based on his writings about Thomas Mann he received a grant by the
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation () is a foundation that promotes international academic cooperation between scientists and scholars from Germany and abroad. Established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, it is funded by t ...
and thus came to the
University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...
in 1963, where he worked on Mann's novella '' Die Betrogene.'' Later, he moved to West Berlin. Encouraged by Inge and
Walter Jens Walter Jens (8 March 1923 – 9 June 2013) was a German philologist, literature historian, critic, university professor and writer. He was born in Hamburg, and attended the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums from 1933 to 1941, when he gained his ...
, Szenessy started to write in German and published his first book in 1967, ''Verwandlungskünste.''
Marcel Reich-Ranicki Marcel Reich-Ranicki (; 2 June 1920 – 18 September 2013) was a Polish-born German literary critic and member of the informal literary association Gruppe 47. He was regarded as one of the most influential contemporary literary critics in the f ...
wrote: ''He who is not a German writes a much better German than almost all who publish books in Germany... bitter, sarcastic, and full of temperament, sharp, springy and lapidary.'' When Szenessy’s books failed to gain a wider audience, he began to write critiques and translations, and eventually decided to become qualified as a
librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...
. In 1971, Szenessy received the Hermann-Hesse-Preis for his novel ''Lauter falsche Pässe oder Die Erinnerungen des Roman Skorzeny''. Mario Szenessy died from a bronchial carcinoma in Pinneberg in 1976.


Work

Szenessy wrote in the epic tradition of Thomas Mann, his literary role model, and his first book received highly favorable critiques. Thus the
Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...
called him a ''new, wonderful narrator''. When, however, he made literary concessions to gain a greater audience, critics bemoaned this development. Yet, ''remarkable remains Szenessy’s art to so completely enter into the German language that it had become finally his home.'' He always tried to popularize East-European literature in Germany; especially the Hungarian authors
György Konrád György (George) Konrád (2 April 1933 – 13 September 2019) was a Hungarian novelist, pundit, essayist and sociologist known as an advocate of individual freedom. Life George Konrad was born in Berettyóújfalu, near Debrecen, into a ...
and
Tibor Déry Tibor Déry (18 October 1894 in Budapest – 18 August 1977 in Budapest) was a Hungarian writer and poet. He also wrote under the names Tibor Dániel and Pál Verdes. György Lukács praised Dery as being "the greatest depicter of human b ...
he made more familiar with translations as well as a
monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...
. In his novel ''Lauter falsche Pässe'' (1971), Szenessy stylized the image of the typical entertainment novel by treating the genre in a sarcastic fashion, thus transferring it into a work of art. In the book the author receives a manuscript that represents an autobiography of Roman Skorzeny. Skorzeny recalls how after falsifying stamps, he proceeds to manufacture the accompanying letters, and then the related biographies. ''The text demonstrates the patterns of a fascinating narration whereby the first name of the fictitious author ''(- In German Roman also means novel -)'' indicates that in this book the subject is the novel ''per se''. Presented are the political thriller, the espionage and criminal novel, the sailors’ yarn and Anglo romantic accounts of mail coach robberies. The introduction is a parody of the classical
Bildungsroman In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...
and cites existing travesty in literature. The genre of the trivial novel presents itself as a novel in all its forms as if to prove that the novel is just not a lower art form.''Willi Winkler: Mario Szenessy. In: ''Kritisches Lexikon zur deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur – KLG''


Publications

* ''In Paris mit Jim''. Stories with an afterword by Peter Wapnewski. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1977, * ''Der Hellseher''. Novel. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1974, * ''Der Hut im Gras''. Novel. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1973. * ''Lauter falsche Pässe oder Die Erinnerungen des Roman Skorzeny''. Novel. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1971. * ''Tibor Déry''. Monographie. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1970 * ''Otto, der Akrobat''. Stories. S. Fischer, Frankfurt/M 1969 * ''Verwandlungskünste''. Novel. S. Fischer, Frankfurt/M 1967


Translations from Hungarian to German

*
György Konrád György (George) Konrád (2 April 1933 – 13 September 2019) was a Hungarian novelist, pundit, essayist and sociologist known as an advocate of individual freedom. Life George Konrad was born in Berettyóújfalu, near Debrecen, into a ...
: ''Der Besucher''. Novel. Luchterhand, Darmstadt 1973, * György Konrád: ''Der Stadtgründer''. Novel. List, München 1975,


About Szenessy

* Otto F. Beer: ''"''Dieser Zauberlehrling bleibt bescheiden". In: ''
Der Tagesspiegel (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington, D.C., and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, since reunificati ...
'' 20 October 1974 *
Marcel Reich-Ranicki Marcel Reich-Ranicki (; 2 June 1920 – 18 September 2013) was a Polish-born German literary critic and member of the informal literary association Gruppe 47. He was regarded as one of the most influential contemporary literary critics in the f ...
: ''"''Ein Neuankömmling betrachtet uns. Mario Szenessys bemerkenswerter Erzählungsband 'Otto der Akrobat'". In: ''
Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...
'' 31 October 1969 *
Jochen Schmidt Jochen Schmidt (born 9 November 1970 in East Berlin) is a German author and translator. Initially, Schmidt gained popularity in Germany with his story “Harnusch mäht als wär’s ein Tanz” (English "Harnusch mows the lawn as if it were a d ...
: "Ein Parforceritt und allerlei literarische Zaubertricks". In: ''
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...
'' 8 October 1974 * Eugen Skasa-Weiß: "Des Urknalls letzter Akt". In: ''
Stuttgarter Zeitung The () is a German language, German-language daily newspaper (except Sundays) edited in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, with a run of about 200,000 sold copies daily. History and profile It was first edited on 18 September 1945, just ...
'' 23 October 1971 * Heinrich Vormweg: "Geheimniskrämerei um einen falschen Schelm. Mario Szenessys Roman, Lauter falsche Pässe’". In: ''
Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...
'' 9/10 October 1971 * Willi Winkler: "Mario Szenessy". In: ''Kritisches Lexikon zur deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur – KLG''.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Szenessy, Mario 1930 births 1976 deaths Writers from Zrenjanin German male short story writers German short story writers Hungarian translators 20th-century German translators 20th-century German novelists German male novelists 20th-century German short story writers 20th-century German male writers