What a delight this book was - so much so that as soon as I finished it, I wanted to start at the beginning again. János Bátky is a young Doctor of Philosophy who specialises "in useless information, with a particular interest in things a normal person would never consider important", with an emphasis on the English mystics of the seventeenth century. He assists "elderly Englishmen in the pursuit of their intellectual whims". So while attending Lady Malmsbury-Croft's soirée, where he meets Owen Pendragon, Earl of Gwynedd, it seems natural that a shared interest in this esoteric subject would result in an invitation to Llanyvgan Castle. Anything but natural, gentle reader, anything but.

So begins a romp through a book which has as a cast a virtually illiterate but agile rock climber from Connemara, Maloney; the intellectual but strangely asexual nephew of the Earl, Osborne Pendragon, and his beautiful if disingenuous sister, Cynthia Pendragon; a strange siren of a woman, Mrs. Eileen St. Claire/Roscoe; an omnivorous German athlete with a degree in Economics, Lene; a dark cloaked giant horseman with a torch; and a supporting cast of a village madman, castle servants, the requisite tormented vicar and a handful of ghosts out of the murk of history. Add a soupcon of sex, a few sly pokes at this or that -ism or -osm, and you have a book to be read at a gulp.

Young János soon learns that he will need not only all of his learning but all of his wits too, as he is thrown into a world involving the ancient search of the Rosicrucians for the alchemical secret which will restore a body out of death, books and documents so old and rare that only a few can read them, skullduggery, incalculable sums of money and murder. This is intelligent writing full of casual references to everything from Shakespeare's pentameters to Welsh mythology. Szerb takes hilarious pot shots at the 30s fascination with the study of the occult and the book is rich with one liners which kept putting a goofy grin on this reader's face: "My God," I interrupted, "It isn't just the Welsh...it's hard for anyone to believe that a person simply dies.". As readers we realise that we are being treated to that delicious combination of a satirical sense of humour combined with a rare and fine intelligence (I believe "penetrating" is the word which gets used a lot), with the odd brilliant moment of psychological insight just for fun. Not high art but worth every minute spent reading it.

In the endnotes I read that Szerb was "gathering material for his ground-breaking "Histories of English Literature and World Literature", that by 1934 he was "Hungary's most respected writer: a small, shy, loveable man noted for his unfailing kindness and vast erudition, sweetened by an ever-playful wit". Antal Szerb died in a labour camp in 1945 because, despite being a Catholic, he had Jewish origins and was a committed anti-fascist. What a bitter loss.

Recommended. ( )

The Pendragon Legend is an Hungarian novel from 1930s, but the story isn't particularly Hungarian. A Hungarian researcher and bibliophile János Bátky is introduced to the Earl of Pendragon and is invited to study the books in his exquisite library. Bátky soon learns that getting involved with the Pendragons can be dangerous: he is threatened by mysterious forces and many strange events happen at the Pendragon manor. Antihero Bátky is an outsider who gets drawn into quite a mess.

The story is a strange mixture of gothic horror story and light comedy. The Earl Pendragon is a gloomy old gentleman and the history of the family features legendary characters. Rosicrucianism plays an important role in the story. The Finnish publisher advertises the book as Da Vinci Code published 60 years before Dan Brown's novel. This is advertising, of course, but the books belong in the same genre.

The Pendragon Legend is a charming story. It's not high literature, but the plot is clever, Bátky is a lovely lead character and the story has a good vibe to it. I also enjoyed the old-fashioned atmosphere of the 1930's England, and the translator did a good job capturing that in the language used. The Pendragon Legend is a tasty mystery with flavours of horror and occult. (Review based on the Finnish translation.)

(Original review at my review blog) ( )

Enjoyed this immensely, it's a romp of a book, but Szerb really knew his stuff about Rosicrucianism. ( )

An absoulutely fascinating novel! "The Pendragon Legend" is a gothic murder mystery with occult elements, erudition, and wit. What makes the novel unique is not its subject matter, but rather its style of narration. The narrator is a Hungarian anti-hero caught up in a Welsh mystery with supernatural undertones. The narrator is simultaneously naive and insightful, and remains a foreigner in his own tale. ( )