<DIV><B><p>A collection of Szerb's shorter fiction, which superbly demonstrates his development from young idealist to mature ironist</B><p><p>"Here you have Szerb in miniature... revealing his multi-faceted genius" Nicholas Lezard, <I>Guardian</I><p><p>This selection of Antal Szerb's stories and novellas, set first in a quasi-mythical past and then in the London and Paris of the Thirties, provides an exhilarating guide to the writer's development, from precocious beginnings to a masterful maturity.<p><p>In these unforgettable tales-two of which are new to this edition-Szerb displays his irrepressible love of life and the gentle irony that became his hallmark.<p><p><B>Antal Szerb</B> was born in Budapest in 1901. Though of Jewish descent, he was baptised at an early age and remained a lifelong Catholic. He rapidly established himself as a formidable scholar, through studies of Ibsen and Blake and histories of English, Hungarian and world literature. He was a prolific essayist and reviewer, ranging across all the major European languages. Debarred by successive Jewish laws from working in a university, he was subjected to increasing persecution, and finally murdered in a forced labour camp in 1945. Pushkin Press publishes his novels <I>The Pendragon Legend</I>, <I>Oliver VII</I> and his masterpiece <I>Journey by Moonlight</I>, as well as the historical study <I>The Queen's Necklace</I> and <I>Love in a Bottle and Other Stories</I>.<p></DIV>