Margins
Final Matters book cover
Final Matters
Selected Poems, 2004-2010
2019
First Published
4.18
Average Rating
200
Number of Pages

An award-winning translator presents selections from the haunting final volumes of a leading voice in contemporary Hungarian poetry Szil�rd Borb�ly, one of the most celebrated writers to emerge from post-Communist Hungary, received numerous literary awards in his native country. In this volume, acclaimed translator Ottilie Mulzet reveals the full range and force of Borb�ly's verse by bringing together generous selections from his last two books, Final Matters and To the Body. The original Hungarian text is set on pages facing the English translations, and the book also features an afterword by Mulzet that places the poems in literary, historical, and biographical context. Restless, curious, learned, and alert, Borb�ly weaves into his work an unlikely mix of Hungarian folk songs, Christian and Jewish hymns, classical myths, police reports, and unsettling accounts of abortions. In her afterword, Mulzet calls this collection "a blasphemous and fragmentary prayer book ... that challenges us to rethink the boundaries of victimhood, culpability, and our own religious and cultural definitions."

Avg Rating
4.18
Number of Ratings
11
5 STARS
36%
4 STARS
45%
3 STARS
18%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads

Author

Szilard Borbely
Szilard Borbely
Author · 6 books
Szilárd Borbély is widely acknowledged as one of the most important poets to emerge in post-1989 Hungary. He worked in a wide variety of genres, including essay, drama, and short fiction, usually dealing with issues of trauma, memory, and loss. His poems appeared in English translation in The American Reader, Asymptote, and Poetry. Borbély received many awards for his work, including the Attila József Prize. He died in 2014.
548 Market St PMB 65688, San Francisco California 94104-5401 USA
© 2026 Paratext Inc. All rights reserved