Eighteen established writers, one from each city/region, were commissioned to write a chapter in a response to their Arts & Society theme within the context of their city.
Just as Ulysses is innovative in its form and language, so the writers were chosen with a view to reflecting a breadth of genres, styles and innovations. All the (new) chapters from the 18 cities/regions will be brought together in a book to be published in the Autumn 2024: ULYSSES European Odyssey.
István Tasnádi wrote the Budapest chapter.
Writer’s Statement
That one day has already lasted a hundred years. Only now, while re-reading the book, have I come to realise that, as a novice writer, I was aping those who wanted to imitate Joyce. So everything started from here; the Great Demolition, the Universal Deconstruction. My maternal grandfather was the same age as Stephen Dedalus in 1922. His name was also Stephen, in Hungarian: István. Just like mine.
This era, and the surrealists – Jarry, Dali, Buñuel – have been my favourites since I was a teenager. Our grandfathers were more radical than we could ever be. As young men, they wanted to create something that no one else had done before them. In that conservative, authoritarian cultural and political atmosphere, this was perhaps easier. Simply because there was more at stake (at least there was a stake) to create in a spirit different from the canon. And masterpieces were born. An Andalusian Dog shocks me, even after almost a hundred years. It is a perfect piece of art, with a message that is still relevant today.
Just like Ulysses. The unrestrained freedom of the text, the richness of the vocabulary, the sensual self-righteousness of the language, the inimitable mixture of philosophy, waggery and blasphemy, the whole “grave fun preserved in a mothball” remain impressive even today. And as for our collective game: how can you connect to a tradition that calls into question (as well as disassembles and often ridicules) all traditions? I have no idea, not yet. That is why it is all so exciting.
Writer’s Biography
István Tasnádi was born in Budapest in 1970. He is an Attila József and Béla Balázs prize-winning playwright. He graduated as a theatre historian from Pannon University in Veszprém in 1997. In 2019 he obtained his doctorate at the University of Theatre & Film Arts Budapest, where he has been teaching dramaturgy and creative writing for years.
His poems and reviews have been published regularly since 1992 in almost all major literary and theatre magazines. In 1996 he helped found the Bárka Theatre, where he worked as a dramaturg until 2001. From 2001 to 2007 he was the resident playwright in the Krétakör Theatre, and in 2009 he made his debut as a theatre director. In 2016 he directed his first TV film, based on his play Memo, which won the prize for the best European TV film at the Prix Europe festival in 2017.
Since 2012 he has been the lead writer of a highly successful national radio youth series, Időfutár (Time Messenger), which was later published in several volumes by Tilos az Á publishing house. Since 2012 he has also been the lead writer of HBO’s Terápia (Therapy) series , and of the series, Aranyélet (Golden Life) since 2015.
To date there have been 88 performances of his 36 plays and stage adaptations on Hungarian stages, and his works have been performed in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Ireland, Poland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Italy, the US, Russia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Serbia. His works have been translated into German, French, Polish, Italian, Czech, Slovak, Romanian and Bulgarian.