Bøger af Péter Zilahy

Peter Zilahy's The Last Window-Giraffe takes its title from the fact that the first and last letters of the Hungarian alphabet match the first letters for the words "window" and "giraffe." This genre-defying book, originally written in Hungarian, has been translated into twenty-two languages and is often cited as one of the inspirations for the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine. On the surface, this autobiographical fiction rendered by Zilahy's incisive x-ray vision--a heady mix of history, memoir, and farce of the highest order--is about the protests in Belgrade in 1996. But viewed through a wider lens it serves up the absurdity of all manner of authoritarianism that resonates as much today as it first did upon publication in 1999.

The Last Window-Giraffe’ is a playful and personal journey through the political unrest of the seventies and eighties. It was inspired by a Hungarian children’s dictionary, entitled ‘Window-Giraffe’, which explained the whole world in simple terms; a world where everything was in order and all problems were easily solved. Popular across Europe for the best part of a decade, ‘The Last Window-Giraffe’ is a politically infused rendition of the original: quirky, astute and powerful. Péter Zilahy draws on his travels around the soft dictatorships of Eastern Europe, offering his acerbic observations on the often bizarre spectacle. In one instance he describes the carnival-like protests against the Milosevic regime in Belgrade simply and humorously. This reflects, like the format of the book, the manner in which the regime treat their people like children. [NP] Filled with his own striking photographs, Zilahy gives fascinating insight into a whole other universe behind the Iron Curtain. ‘The Last Window-Giraffe’ is one of the most unusual, beguiling books you will ever read.For more information please see the book website:www.lastwindowgiraffe.anthempressblog.com