Gábor Vida

Gábor Vida (1968, Chișineu-Criș): Transylvanian-Hungarian prose writer, chief editor of the literary magazine “Látó” in Târgu Mureș. He spent his childhood in Chișineu-Criș, a small town by the Hungarian border, and his summers in Baraolt, in Szeklerland. He completed his high school studies in Arad. He studied Hungarian-French literature at the Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca. In 1993, he was the editor of the university newspaper “Éber”. He obtained his diploma in 1994 and has been living in Târgu Mureș since then.

His works include: Búcsú a filmtől, 1994 (Farewell to the Film), Rezervátum – történetek és hézagok prózában, 1998 (Reservation – Stories and Gaps in Prose), Fakusz három magányossága, 2005 (The Three Solitudes of Fakusz), Nem szabad és nem királyi, 2007 (Neither Free nor Royal), Noé, az indián meg a dinók, 2009 (Noah, the Amerindian, and the Dinosaurs), A kétely meg a hiába, 2012 (Doubt and Futility), Ahol az ő lelke, 2013, 2019 (Where Their Soul), Egy dadogás története, 2017, 2019 (English edition: Story of a Stammer, 2022), Senkiháza. Erdélyi lektűr, 2023 (No One’s Land. Transylvanian Dime Novel).

“In the summer of 1936, a young engineer arrives from Bucharest to a small Transylvanian town to inspect the smallest Ganz water turbine and try his luck. His papers are in order, but his soul is not, and the turbine has issues too. Máté Kalagor, also known as Matei Călugăr, wants to settle down, though it’s not an easy task. Through him, we get to know the place: the political elite, the town’s bourgeoisie, the odd people, the Romanian policeman, the Jewish merchant, the German photographer, and the centenary maple tree on the main square. History sweeps through this closed microcosm: royal dictatorship, Iron Guard, the small Hungarian world, war, and Soviet invasion. And if all this weren’t enough, there’s the greatest mystery of all for the engineer: love. (…)”

The short summary of the novel Senkiháza. Erdélyi lektűr (No One’s Land. Transylvanian Dime Novel), published this year by Magvető Publishing House, guides us into a micro-community, offering possible explanations for the events of those times. Just as pulzArt guides its audience through programmes centered around this year’s festival theme: “pulzArt micro – individual worlds.”

Viewed through these connections, the book launch event in Saint George surely gains an added layer of intrigue. Our guest’s discussion partner will be the writer István Miklóssi Szabó.

Date: 16th of September, Saturday, 18:00
Location: Tamási Áron Theatre, foyer