Winner of the 2007 National Jewish Book Award in the category of Biography, Autobiography & Memoir

A powerful memoir of war, politics, literature, and family life by one of Europe's leading intellectuals.

When George Konrad was a child of eleven, he, his sister, and two cousins managed to flee to Budapest from the Hungarian countryside the day before deportations swept through his home town. Ultimately, they were the only Jewish children of the town to survive the Holocaust.

A Guest in My Own Country recalls the life of one of Eastern Europe's most accomplished modern writers, beginning with his survival during the final months of the war. Konrad captures the dangers, the hopes, the betrayals and courageous acts of the period through a series of carefully chosen episodes that occasionally border on the surreal (as when a dead German soldier begins to speak, attempting to justify his actions).

The end of the war launches the young man on a remarkable career in letters and politics. Offering lively descriptions of both his private and public life in Budapest, New York, and Berlin, Konrad reflects insightfully on his role in the Hungarian Uprising, the notion of "internal emigration" – the fate of many writers who, like Konrad, refused to leave the Eastern Bloc under socialism – and other complexities of European identity. To read A Guest in My Own Country is to experience the recent history of East-Central Europe from the inside.

【作者简介】

哲尔吉·康拉德（George Konrad 1933— ）

匈牙利犹太人，小说家。

1933年，康拉德出生于匈牙利德布勒森。1944年，德国占领匈牙利，他的同学尽数被送至集中营，无一生还。他与姐姐因前往布达佩斯而逃过一劫。1953年，进入罗兰大学学习。

1956年，参与匈牙利革命。大学毕业后，曾从事过多种职业：教师、编辑、翻译、工厂工人、儿童福利督导……儿童福利督导的工作经历为他的第一部小说《社工》（The Case Worker，1969）提供了创作素材，该书被译成13种语言，欧文·豪评价：“单这一本书便足以奠定康拉德在欧洲文学界的重要地位。”1965年，进入匈牙利城市科学与规划研究院，从事城市社会学研究。1974年，与人合作出版《通往阶级权力之路的知识分子》（The Intellectual on the Road to Class Power）；1977年和1982年分别出版文集《自治的诱惑》（The Temptation of Autonomy）与《反政治》（Antipolitics）。评论者将他的作品与亚当·米奇尼克、米兰·昆德拉、瓦茨拉夫·哈维尔、切斯瓦夫·米沃什和丹尼洛·契斯的相比较。

1989年开始，他积极参与匈牙利公共生活，成为匈牙利民主转型的重要铺路者。

1990年，他当选国际笔会主席，1997—2003年，两次当选柏林艺术学院主席，其间获授亚琛国际查理曼奖（2001）和德意志联邦共和国十字功绩勋章（2003）。另著有《城市建设者》（The City Builder，1980）、《失败者》（The Loser，1983）、《花园中的盛宴》（A Feast in the Garden，1992），并获得赫尔德奖（1983）、马内斯·斯佩贝尔奖（1990）、歌德奖章（2000）、法国荣誉军团军官勋位（1996）等荣誉。