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2025 Longlist

Home

Translated from the Hungarian
artwork-image

ABOUT
THE BOOK

Home deals with the experience of homecoming after extended absence and engages with the archaeology of the self in the context of estrangement and belonging. Having taken the decision to emigrate decades earlier, Tompa’s unnamed protagonist is caught between two worlds, navigating a journey from one homeland to another, and suddenly facing an upsurge of revelations that have a strong emotional impact.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Andrea
Tompa

Andrea Tompa is an award-winning Hungarian novelist, academic and theatre critic based in Budapest. She is former editor of the leading theatre journal Színház (Theatre) and is a member of the prestigious Széchenyi Literary and Arts Academy. Her novels include: Hangman’s House/A hóhér háza (Kalligram, 2010; translated into English by Bernard Adams, Seagull Books, 2020 – longlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize 2022), Top to Tail/Fejtől és lábtól (Kalligram, 2013), Omerta (Jelenkor, 2017 – translated into German by Terézia Mora, Suhrkamp, 2022) and Haza/Home (Jelenkor, 2020).

Andrea Tompa is an award-winning Hungarian novelist, academic and theatre critic based in Budapest. She is former editor of the leading theatre journal Színház (Theatre) and is a member of the prestigious Széchenyi Literary and Arts Academy. Her novels include: Hangman’s House/A hóhér háza (Kalligram, 2010; translated into English by Bernard Adams, Seagull Books, 2020 – longlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize 2022), Top to Tail/Fejtől és lábtól (Kalligram, 2013), Omerta (Jelenkor, 2017 – translated into German by Terézia Mora, Suhrkamp, 2022) and Haza/Home (Jelenkor, 2020).

ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Jozefina
Komporaly

Jozefina Komporaly is a London-based academic and translator from Hungarian and Romanian. She is editor and co-translator of the collections How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients and Other Plays (Seagull, 2015), András Visky’s Barrack Dramaturgy (Intellect, 2017) and Plays from Romania: Dramaturgies of Subversion (Bloomsbury, 2021), and author of numerous publications on translation, adaptation and theatre. Her translations appeared in Asymptote, The Baffler, Columbia Journal, Los Angeles Review, Modern Poetry in Translation, Poet Lore, Words without Borders, World Literature Today, and were produced by Foreign Affairs, Trap Door, Theatre Y, Trafika Europe.

Jozefina Komporaly is a London-based academic and translator from Hungarian and Romanian. She is editor and co-translator of the collections How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients and Other Plays (Seagull, 2015), András Visky’s Barrack Dramaturgy (Intellect, 2017) and Plays from Romania: Dramaturgies of Subversion (Bloomsbury, 2021), and author of numerous publications on translation, adaptation and theatre. Her translations appeared in Asymptote, The Baffler, Columbia Journal, Los Angeles Review, Modern Poetry in Translation, Poet Lore, Words without Borders, World Literature Today, and were produced by Foreign Affairs, Trap Door, Theatre Y, Trafika Europe.

NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

Prompted by a class reunion, Home deals with the experience of homecoming after extended absence and engages with the archaeology of the self in the context of estrangement and belonging. Having taken the decision to emigrate decades earlier, Tompa’s unnamed protagonist is caught between two worlds, navigating a journey from one homeland to another, and suddenly facing an upsurge of revelations that have a strong emotional impact. Home takes in landmark events from the past, starting with the youthful ease with which the protagonist had set off on an adventure of a lifetime, and continuing with the personal stories of former classmates – some also scattered around the world, and others who decided to stay put. Home negotiates diverse orders of experience and presumed difference without being judgmental, and attention is being drawn to ongoing change over time – be it in the lives of those who opted to stay or to leave. “At a time when nationalism is dangerously on the rise in Hungary (and elsewhere), a title such as ‘Home’ could easily be classed as provocative. Tompa’s notion of ‘home’ harks back to a pre-nationalist era, privileging the personal memory of the narrator, intertwined with the memories of those whose lives are connected to that of the protagonist’s. In an almost thriller-like episode, we get to follow the daily itinerary of the narrator’s father, based on denunciating undercover informer reports. Home in this case is constructed in response to a mental map attached to the father, from the perspective of a government snitch. In parallel with this, we get a sense of alienation by witnessing the narrator check into a hotel while visiting their hometown, readers thus being confronted with the notion of home in speech marks so to speak: ‘home’ incorporating broader and broader connotations, informer reports and distorted perceptions of identities included.” Robert Milbacher, Élet és Irodalom

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
15/04/2024
Country
Hungary
Original Language
Hungarian
Author
Publisher
Istros Books
Translator
Jozefina Komporaly
Translation
Translated from the Hungarian
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