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Biography
Hungarian

Magda Szabó

1917 — 2007

Magda Szabó was a Hungarian novelist and poet whose fiction — including The Door (1987), Abigail (1970), and Iza's Ballad (1963) — is among the finest in twentieth-century Hungarian literature. The Door, about the relationship between a writer and her fierce, secretive housekeeper, has been recognized as one of the greatest European novels of the late twentieth century.

Past sales0
PeriodModern
NationalityHungarian
1. Biography

A short life of the author

Magda Szabó (1917–2007) was born on 5 October 1917 in Debrecen, Hungary. She studied Latin, Hungarian, and history at the University of Debrecen.

Life and Career

Szabó published her first poetry collection in 1947 and won the Baumgarten Prize in 1949, but the Communist government withdrew the prize and banned her from publishing. She did not publish again until 1958.

Freskó (The Fawn, 1959) and Az őz (The Fawn, 1959) — her comeback novels — re-established her reputation. Pilátus (1963) and Az ajtó (The Door, 1987) are her masterpieces. The Door — about the intense, fraught relationship between a writer (closely modeled on Szabó) and her housekeeper Emerence, a fiercely independent old woman who guards her privacy with absolute, destructive determination — is one of the great novels about power, trust, and betrayal between two women.

Major Works and Themes

Szabó wrote about female relationships, the burden of the past, and the moral complexities of Hungarian life under and after communism. Her prose is precise and emotionally devastating.

Key Works

  • The Door (1987)
  • Abigail (1970)

Collecting Szabó

Hungarian originals (Magvető) are the primary collected form. English translations (NYRB Classics, Harvill) bring $10–$30. Szabó died in 2007.