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
“….Home is simply trying to pose some questions about identity, its loss or transformation through time. One’s home in the twenty-first century is not fixed but a moveable feast, no longer found in one’s homeland nor in the land of one’s “adoption,” it is dependent on the individual with his or her official citizenship."--World Literature Today
Jozefina Komporaly is a London-based academic and translator from Hungarian and Romanian into English. She studied English and European literature before gaining a PhD in Drama and Comparative Literature from the University of Warwick. She is currently based at the University of the Arts in London, having previously taught drama and translation at Warwick, Hull, DMU and Cardiff. She is editor and co-translator of several drama collections, and author of numerous publications on translation, adaptation and theatre. Her translations appeared in prestigious literary magazines and were produced by Foreign Affairs, Trap Door, Theatre Y and Trafika Europe Radio. Recent publications include ‘Mr K Released’ by Matéi Visniec (finalist for the 2021 EBRD Literature Prize) and ‘Story of a Stammer’ by Gábor Vida (Seagull Books, 2022). Her forthcoming translation ‘Home’ by Andrea Tompa (Istros Books, 2024) was the recipient of a PEN Translates Grant.
Andrea Tompa is an award-winning Hungarian novelist, academic and theatre critic based in Budapest. She is former editor of the leading theatre journal Szinhaz (Theatre) and is a member of the prestigious Szechenyi Literary and Arts Academy. To date, Tompa published four acclaimed novels: The Hangman's House/A hoher haza (Kalligram, 2010; translated into English by Bernard Adams, Seagull Books, 2020 - longlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize 2022), Top to Tail/Fejtol es labtol (Kalligram, 2013), Omerta (Jelenkor, 2017 - translated into German by Terezia Mora, Suhrkamp, 2022) and Haza/Home (Jelenkor, 2020) - all dealing in different ways with the history of the Hungarian community in Transylvania (Romania), and for which she received numerous prestigious awards.
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Find translator Jozefina Komporaly on social media:
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https://www2.societyofauthors.org/soa-member/jozefina-komporaly/
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Translators Aloud is a YouTube channel devoted to sharing the work of literary translators, for both published and unpublished works.![When Red House Alley first appeared (as Der heilige Skarabäus [The sacred scarab],1909), it sent shockwaves through Viennese society. For the first time, the women and girls caught up in and destroyed by the sex trade were portrayed as real human beings rather than predators or mindless victims. The book became a bestseller and was considered one of the most important German novels of the early 20th century. Banned as decadent by the Nazis, it was forgotten for over 75 years. Red House Alley is the first complete and uncensored English translation of this landmark work. It reveals how the brothel system operated, how women were procured and ruined, and how society fostered a trade that public morals condemned. Else Jerusalem refused to accept degradation as the only fate for the women and girls of Red House. With the protagonist Milada, she presents a thoughtful, compassionate woman who finds an escape for herself and others like her. This is the first complete English translation of Der heilige Skarabäus (1909) Translated and with an afterword by Stephanie G. Ortega Introduction by Sophie Haydock “A cultural phenomenon.... The double standard Jerusalem exposed in her novel persists: it is still more acceptable to hire a sex worker than it is to be one.” Daniel Elkind, Lapham' Quarterly “Milada’s budding class consciousness stands out…. The rungs of the social ladder, ever slippery, are conveyed by the recurring images of closed doors and untraversable bridges: ‘pick your way across a narrow bridge … you lose your balance and come tumbling down.’ Thankfully recovered, Red House Alley is an impressive novel that remains optimistic despite its violence.” Colm McKenna, Times Literary Supplement Author biography Author bio Else Jerusalem was born into a Jewish Hungarian family in Vienna in 1876. She studied at the University of Vienna, but as a woman she was not an official student. Her first book, Venus am Kreuz [Venus crucified], a collection of novellas, was published in 1899. She married in 1901, had two children, and remained active in intellectual, literary, and social affairs. In 1909, she published her novel Der heilige Skarabäus, based on her independent research on prostitution in Vienna. It became a bestseller throughout the German-speaking world. In 1910 she divorced her first husband, married the embryologist Viktor Widakowich, and emigrated with him to Argentina. There, she had a daughter and wrote for German-language journals. She died in Buenos Aires in 1943. Translator bio Stephanie Gorrell Ortega grew up in the United States and graduated from high school in West Germany. She attended Mount Holyoke College and the University of Texas, Austin, where she earned a doctorate in German literature. She has taught at the Free University of Berlin; S.U.N.Y., Buffalo; the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; the University of Texas, Austin; and Texas State University. She has edited and translated with Poesie, Slavic Review, and Dimension: Contemporary German Arts and Letters. She lives in Austin, Texas. Red House Alley by Else Jerusalem Published by Boiler House Press (UK) Publication date: 30 November 2024 https://www.boilerhouse.press/product-page/red-house-alley Paperback edition Retail price: £22.99/$32.99 ISBN 978-1-915812-36-0 EPUB/Kindle edition ISBN: 978-1-915812-37-7 Retail price: £8.99/$9.99 Boiler House Press distribution by BookSource: Orders: orders@booksource.net Tel: +44 (0)141 642 9192 Also available through Gardners: Orders: sales@gardners.com Tel: +44 (0)1323 521555 And in the USA from Asterism Books: https://asterismbooks.com/product/red-house-alley-else-jerusalem Inquiries: info@asterimbooks.com](https://translatorsaloud.com/wp-content/plugins/youtube-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)