Szabó, Magda

One of The New York Times Book Review's "10 Best Books of 2015" An NYRB Classics Original The Door is an unsettling exploration of the relationship between two very different women. Magda is a writer, educated, married to an academic, public-spirited, with an on-again-off-again relationship to Hungary's Communist authorities. Emerence is a peasant, illiterate, impassive, abrupt, seemingly ageless. She lives alone in a house that no one else may enter, not even her closest relatives. She is Magda's housekeeper and she has taken control over Magda's household, becoming indispensable to her. And Emerence, in her way, has come to depend on Magda. They share a kind of love--at least until Magda's long-sought success as a writer leads to a devastating revelation. Len Rix's prizewinning translation of The Door at last makes it possible for American readers to appreciate the masterwork of a major modern European writer.

The door

sarah

Whoever was on top, however promising, and whether he was on top in her own interests or not, they were all the same, all oppressors. In Emerence's world there were two kinds of people, those who swept and those who didn't, and everything flowed from that. 

Writing isn’t an easy taskmaster. Sentences left unfinished never continue as well as they had begun. New ideas bend the main arch of the text, and it never again sits perfectly true.

For there was nothing offhand or casual in the way Emerence loved me. It was as if she'd learned it from the Bible, which she'd never held in her hands, or had drawn closer to the Apostles during her three years of schooling. Emerence didn't know the words of St Paul, but she lived them.

Helen 

As I listened I felt a dull numbness, like the effect of chloroform, rather than the primal, anarchic agony you usually feel when you encounter someone you have loved now turned to dust, in some object like a little bowl, and you are required to believe that it is still the same person who once smiled at you.

It's a pity I don't know what an ambassador does. The only thing I want is the crypt. Just leave me in peace, and don't try to educate me. I know quite enough already. I wish I knew less. 

Emerence's face resembled nothing so much as a calm, unruffled, early- morning mirror of water. 

Humanity in all of its complexity in this novel. Throghtout reading it, it feels like it is asking the question of what makes a good person, and those so by juxtaposing Emerance's "innate" goodness and Magda's "learnt" such. And, in my experience, you will meet many such people in real life, to whom empathy comes so naturally that it is at time incomprehensive (the way Emerance's empathy extends to individuals on all sides of history who are equally as powerless in the face of the grand social process), and such people, to whom it is inevitably tied to their own intellectualisation.

This novel on how to try and understand each other feels so painfully relevant today.

Humanity in all of its complexity in this novel. Throghtout reading it, it feels like it is asking the question of what makes a good person, and those so by juxtaposing Emerance's "innate" goodness and Magda's "learnt" such. And, in my experience, you will meet many such people in real life, to whom empathy comes so naturally that it is at time incomprehensive (the way Emerance's empathy extends to individuals on all sides of history who are equally as powerless in the face of the grand social process), and such people, to whom it is inevitably tied to their own intellectualisation.

This novel on how to try and understand each other feels so painfully relevant today.

My first Hungarian literature! It's a kind of book that doesn't have lovable characters and a happy ending, but it leaves a deep impression on me. It shows me the complexity of humans' emotions in loving someone, but not in a romantic context.

The complex yet strong bond between a writer and her housekeeper in this novel demonstrates that we never truly understand someone even if we know them for years. I think the writing style might be boring for some people, and the story is slow-paced, but it shows that it takes a long time to truly understand and know characters—just like we understand people in our lives. The interesting part of this story is that the narrator and the housekeeper have distinct personalities, and they show their love in very contrasting ways, but can still build trust in each other. Unfortunately, this distinction also leads to the feeling of betrayal experienced by the two characters. The end of the story shows me that sometimes, we think that we know what's best for other people and make decisions for them in the name of love, while on the other hand, our actions harm them because we lack understanding in true humility and respect for others' nature.

My first Hungarian literature! It's a kind of book that doesn't have lovable characters and a happy ending, but it leaves a deep impression on me. It shows me the complexity of humans' emotions in loving someone, but not in a romantic context.

The complex yet strong bond between a writer and her housekeeper in this novel demonstrates that we never truly understand someone even if we know them for years. I think the writing style might be boring for some people, and the story is slow-paced, but it shows that it takes a long time to truly understand and know characters—just like we understand people in our lives. The interesting part of this story is that the narrator and the housekeeper have distinct personalities, and they show their love in very contrasting ways, but can still build trust in each other. Unfortunately, this distinction also leads to the feeling of betrayal experienced by the two characters. The end of the story shows me that sometimes, we think that we know what's best for other people and make decisions for them in the name of love, while on the other hand, our actions harm them because we lack understanding in true humility and respect for others' nature.

a unique layered story about a writer and her housekeeper. it's part love, part enmity, all growth. it is raw, shocking, and unforgettable. i need more nyrb classics.

saaral

simply incredible storytelling… the ethical dilemma had me thinking for days about what I would’ve done in the writer’s position. this was compounded by the fact that i have an Emerence of my own in my life – immense physical strength, inclination to housekeeping, numerous cats and all. 

The door

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