Tuesday 8 October 2019

Gárdonyi, Géza "Slave of the Huns" aka "The Invisible Man"


Gárdonyi, Géza "Slave of the Huns" aka "The Invisible Man" (Hungarian: A láthatatlan ember) - 1901

The husband of a friend of mine translated this famous Hungarian book into Esperanto (La nevidebla homo) and I decided to read it. I haven't read many books about Hungary, let alone about the Huns. I think this is the first book I read about that people.

This story takes place in the early 5th century.

Zeta is Hungarian, his family is so poor that his father has to sell him as a slave. We follow him from one owner to the next until he comes to the household of a Byzantine diplomat named Priscis. Because he serves him well, he frees him and takes him to the court of Attila the Hun. He stays with the Huns, fights in the "Battle of the Catalaunian Plains" in the year 451 and doesn't leave until Attila dies in 453.

An interesting book not just about this nomadic people but also about Hungarian history and culture. I would like to read more about them.

From the back cover:

"The tale of a Byzantine slave of the Huns; based on the historical account of the Byzantine diplomat Priscus about his visit to the court of Attila the Hun."

9 comments:

  1. Hungary is an interesting country with a rather tortured past. I had not heard of this book but I have read others set there.

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    1. So have I. And this past is a lot longer ago than most of the books I read about this interesting country.

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  2. https://moly.hu/konyvek/geza-gardonyi-slave-of-the-huns

    https://moly.hu/konyvek/geza-gardonyi-eclipse-of-the-crescent-moon

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9za_G%C3%A1rdonyi

    Let's read!
    :- )

    Have a nice day!

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    1. Thanks for the links, Anonymous. I don't usually respond tho this but I suppose you are a fellow Esperanto speaker.

      Dankon por la ligiloj.

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  3. Gárdonyi

    https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_romano_de_Ida

    Have a nice day!

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  4. Dear Marianne!

    I am glad that you are interested in the Greatest Hungarian Teacher, Géza Gárdonyi. I also sent you a link to "Romano de Ida" to get to know the wonderful oeuvre that Gárdonyi created. I think it’s a more interesting book for ladies than a novel about the battles of the Huns.
    ;- )

    We are lucky because Gárdonyi's great-grandson lives and actively cherish the memory of his great-grandfather, who was a writer, poet, storyteller, music and songwriter, painter, traveler and discoverer and Teacher (with big "T") in many elementary schools in Hungary.

    I don't know Esperanto, but I saw on your blog that you speak it, and I saw an opportunity to open your interest in the wonders of Gárdonyi.

    You can find more works translated into Eszperantó at the link below:
    https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A1rdonyi_G%C3%A9za_m%C5%B1veinek_list%C3%A1ja#G%C3%A1rdonyi_G%C3%A9za_m%C5%B1veinek_ford%C3%ADt%C3%A1sai

    I thank You for sharing Gárdonyi's writings with other people!

    upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Geza_gardonyi.jpg

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    1. Thank you so much for that. I have a Hungarian friend whose husband translated this and she has sent me some of those links already.

      I always love to share interesting reads with other readers. Many bloggers here are American and there are so many books around that have not been translated into English and are therefore not know. So, I hope I can be an ambassador for European authors in the net.

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  5. No, no! Zeta is not a Hungarian, he is a Greek man!

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    1. Thanks, Amphora. It's been a while that I read it and I might have mixed it up back then.

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