Night School

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book in Translation of 2019

Zsófia Ban’s Night School: A Reader for Adults uses a textbook format to build an encyclopedia of life—subject by subject, from self-help to geography to chemistry to French. With subtle irony, Ban’s collection of “lectures” guides readers through the importance and uses of the power of Nohoo (or “know-how”), tells of the travels of young Flaubert to Egypt with his friend Maxime, and includes a missive from Laika the dog minutes before being blasted off into space, never to be seen again. A wildly clever book that makes our all-too-familiar world appear simultaneously foreign and untamed, and brings together lust, taboos, and the absurd in order to teach us the art of living.

Zsófia Bán grew up in Brazil and Hungary, and is the author of three works of fiction and four essay collections. She's won the Glass Marble Prize, Tibo Déry Prize, Palládium Prize, Mozgó Világ Prize, Attila József Prize, and Balassa Péter Prize for her writing. A former writer-in-residence at the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) program, she is currently a professor of American Studies at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.

Jim Tucker, a classical philologist living in Budapest, translated works from German, French, and Italian before making the acquaintance of George Konrád for whom he has translated some 35 essays from the Hungarian, in addition to works by numerous other authors.

Péter Nádas is one of Hungary's greatest authors, and has had seven volumes translated into English, including The Book of Memories and Parallel Stories.