On the vast canvas that is the Transylvanian Trilogy, Count Miklós Bánffy paints the picture of an age: pre-Great War Hungary, where a priveledged social elite dance, dream, desire, debate, and duel away their days, only dimly aware that their opulent world - and the whole Austro-Hungarian Empire - is on the brink of collapse. In the foreground are two young aristocratic cousins. Bàlint Abady enters the circus of Budapest politics with a determination to be 'useful', and works hard to improve the lot of Romanian peasants on his estate. He brings a similar persistence to his emotional life, and his tormented affair with Adrienne, wife of the insane Count Uzdy, spans the entire length of the trilogy. By contrast, Lázló Gyeröffy, gifted musician and handsome 'fairy-tale prince', quickly loses the girl he loves and descends into drunkenness, despair and self-loathing. As a backdrop, the magnificent ballrooms and drawing-rooms of Budapest alternate with the Romantic landscape of Transylvania, with its mounts, valleys, waterfalls and endless forests.
Bánffy's masterpiece, written in the 1930s, was rediscovered after the fall of Communism and has achieved global acclaim with this recent English translation.
On the vast canvas that is the Transylvanian Trilogy, Count Miklós Bánffy paints the picture of an age: pre-Great War Hungary, where a priveledged social elite dance, dream,…
