Half-Understood Things — Antal Szerb in translation

Antal Szerb (1901–1945) was a Hungarian essayist, novelist, and literary critic.

Szerb’s novels, short stories, and a handful of essays are available in English translation. Most of his work, including essays, diaries, letters, lectures, and several books of literary criticism, is not yet translated. My aim with this site is to collate all of Szerb’s writing, and eventually to translate all of it into English.

The title of this site, ‘Half-Understood Things’, comes from a line in ‘Books and Youth: An Elegy’. The medallion I’ve used as the logo comes from the cover of the first volume of Nyugat, a Hungarian literary magazine which Szerb often wrote for, first published in January 1908.

If you’d like to help, or have any questions, you can find me on Twitter (@underthenettle) or send me an email: hello@antalszerb.com.