A short life of the author
Péter Esterházy (1950–2016) was born on 14 April 1950 in Budapest. He was a member of the Esterházy family — one of the most prominent noble families in Hungarian and Habsburg history (the family that employed Joseph Haydn). He studied mathematics at Eötvös Loránd University. He died on 14 July 2016.
Life and Career
Esterházy’s early works — Production Novel (1979), Helping Verbs of the Heart (1985), The Book of Hrabal (1990) — were formally experimental, linguistically playful, and deeply embedded in Central European literary tradition.
Celestial Harmonies (Harmonia Caelestis, 2000) — in two parts: the first, “Numbered Sentences,” is 371 fragments about fathers (biological, mythical, literary) and the Esterházy dynasty; the second, “Confessions of an Esterházy Family,” is a more conventional narrative about his father’s life under Communism — was his masterwork. It was a meditation on Hungarian history, aristocracy, and the meaning of family.
Revised Edition (Javított kiadás, 2002) — written after Esterházy discovered, through newly opened secret police files, that his beloved father had been an informer for the Communist security services for decades — is one of the most devastating literary responses to personal betrayal ever written. It reproduces pages from Celestial Harmonies with annotations drawn from the surveillance files.
He died on 14 July 2016 in Budapest.
Key Works
- Celestial Harmonies (2000)
- Revised Edition (2002)
- Helping Verbs of the Heart (1985)
Collecting Esterházy
Hungarian firsts (Magvető) are the true editions. English translations bring $10–$25.