Péter Esterházy

Short Biography

Péter Esterházy (14 April 1950 – 14 July 2016) was a Hungarian writer. He was one of the most widely known contemporary Hungarian and Central European writers. He has been called a "leading figure of 20th century Hungarian literature"] and his books are considered to be significant contributions to postwar literature.BiographyEsterházy was born in Budapest on 14 April 1950, the eldest son of Mátyás Esterházy de Galántha (1919–1998) (Count Esterházy until 1947, when all titles and ranks were abolished) and Magdolna Mányoki (1916–1980). His paternal grandfather was Count Móric Esterházy (1881–1960), who briefly served as Prime Minister of Hungary in 1917. Through his paternal grandmother Countess Margit Károlyi (1896–1975), one of his ancestors was Count Gyula Károlyi (1871–1947), also Prime Minister from 1931 to 1932.Péter had three younger brothers, including international football player Márton Esterházy (born 1956).Esterházy was educated as a mathematician and started writing in the 1970s. He is perhaps best known outside of his native country for Celestial Harmonies (Harmonia Caelestis, 2000) which chronicles his forefathers' epic rise during the Austro-Hungarian empire to its dispossession under communism. His next novel, Revised Edition or Corrected Version (Javított kiadás, 2002), which appeared as an "appendix" to the former work, deals with his realisation that his father was an informer for the secret police during the communist era. Many of his other works also deal with the experience of living under a communist regime and in a post-communist country. He wrote in a style that can be characterised as postmodernism and his prose has been described by John Updike as "jumpy, allusive, and slangy. ...there is vividness, an electric crackle. The sentences are active and concrete. Physical details leap from the murk of emotional ambivalence." In an obituary published by Reuters, his literary technique is described the following way: "Employing a stop-and-go rhythm, his writing concentrated on twists and surprises rather than straight narrative lines, combining personal experiences with references, quotes and all shades of jokes from sarcasm to toilet humor, sometimes including texts of other authors."His works have been published in more than 20 languages. He was awarded several literary distinctions in Hungary, including the prestigious Kossuth Prize in 1996, and has received awards for his work in France, Austria, Germany, Slovenia and Poland.He was married to Margit Reén, and had four children.In October 2015 it was made public that he suffered from pancreatic cancer. He died on 14 July 2016.