own_death_nadas
2008 Nominated

Own Death

artwork-image

ABOUT
THE BOOK

A man relates his inner-most thoughts and reflections as he suffers a heart attack on the street and is then brought back to life after three and a half minutes. It is a compelling tale of something appalling and yet completely ordinary, of pain and fear and acceptance, whilst walking the thin dividing line between life and death.

In contrast to the speed of this near-death experience, the book incluldes a series of photographs in which the passage of time is hardly apparent. Over the course of a year the author photographed a wild pear tree in his garden at different times of the day and year, recording its changes under the differing light conditions.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Peter
Nadas

Péter Nádas was born in Budapest, as the son of a high-ranking party functionary. Nádas’s grandfather, Moritz Grünfeld, changed his name into Hungarian, which was considered a scandal in the family. Nádas’s youth was shadowed by the loss of his parents. Nádas’s mother died of cancer when he was young and his father committed suicide. At the age of 16 his uncle gave him a camera, and after dropping out of school Nádas turned to photojournalism. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he worked as an editor, reader, and drama consultant. After the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Nádas quit his job as a journalist and devoted himself to literature.

Péter Nádas was born in Budapest, as the son of a high-ranking party functionary. Nádas’s grandfather, Moritz Grünfeld, changed his name into Hungarian, which was considered a scandal in the family. Nádas’s youth was shadowed by the loss of his parents. Nádas’s mother died of cancer when he was young and his father committed suicide. At the age of 16 his uncle gave him a camera, and after dropping out of school Nádas turned to photojournalism. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he worked as an editor, reader, and drama consultant. After the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Nádas quit his job as a journalist and devoted himself to literature.

ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Janos
Salamon

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Country
Hungary
Original Language
Hungarian
Author
Publisher
Steidl Publishing
Translator
Janos Salamon

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