Stonedial

Konr d--a past president of International PEN known for his 1970s-era novels criticizing the authoritarianism of Hungary's communism--sets his latest book in 1993, four years after the old regime has been swept away. J nos Dragom n, a famous author similar in some ways to Konr d himself, returns to Kandor, Hungary, a fictional city very much like Budapest. The mayor of Kandor, filmmaker Antal Tombor, is an old friend; the mayor's wife is Dragom n's lover; and his top aide, Sandra, is the wife of the rector of the university, Kuno Aba, who expounds a reactionary blend of politics. These are the relationships that, eventually, set the sometimes lyrical but flawed narrative in motion. Slipping between first- and third-person accounts of Dragom n's past and present, Konr d meanders for the first two-thirds of the book, providing historical background and information about his protagonist. We encounter Dragom n as a youth, with girlfriends; we wade through his bloated, egotistical portrayal of his later years; and we discover that Dragom n, a Jew, is keenly sensitive to the nuances of anti-Semitism. Then, its last third, the plot suddenly crystallizes: at a party that is being filmed by the mayor, Dragom n and Kuno get into an argument about an incident in the 1956 revolt. Dragom n pushes Kuno, sending him flying into a bench and killing him. Readers of Konr d's earlier novels might be interested in this lumbering work; others are advised to seek out those earlier publications instead. (May)