Trapped in mystery and strangeness

(István Szilágyi: Far Over the Horizon)

Abstract

This paper explores the world of István Szilágyi's latest novel, Far Over the Horizon. The main character Mátyás Tompay Wajtha lives through the fall of the freedom fight, the “kuruc rebellion” as the confidant, secretary of Ferenc Rákóczi II. At the request of Rákóczi he starts writing his memoirs, but a tragedy casts shadows over his fate: his wife was lured away, she got into an accident, the ice broke under the sled. The secret of his wife being lured away and dying keeps him captive until the end of the novel. After the tragedy Tompay “estranges away” from his environment, home in the first part. The second part of the novel picks up the story about thirty years later, when Tompay judges cases brought before him already as the chief judge of Tipród county. His life is surrounded by secrecy and strangeness, and in the discussions “mind constructs” ahead of his age are revealed. 

The analysis emphasizes the following characteristics: István Szilágyi words the important questions of defining and judging crime in an open, experimental novel format on the pages of Far Beyond the Horizon, interwoven with the fine web of motifs so characteristic of him. He does so on the one hand with a historic character, building on the tradition of witch trials. It appears as a serious moral dilemma, thinking in the scope of universal humanity, whether witches exist at all. Based on what preconceptions does one pass judgment? Who has the right to judge crimes that cannot be uncovered in their entirety? Mátyás Tompay Wajtha questions the borders of human knowledge, just to get from certain to uncertain every single time, through bitter experiences. Even in the trapped situation of Tompay he tries to see behind the secrets, discover the practicality behind the superstitions, beliefs, witchcraft, love charms and murders. Such interpretative horizons intersect excitingly in the conversations which at first sight we would think to be long obsolete for a man of today.

In my opinion, by focusing on the dynamics of strangeness, utilizing the relevant insights of xenology, culture and literary studies, following the system of criteria of close reading, I managed to reveal such structural problems, connection points hardly studied so far which might further nuance the statements of the reception and impact history so far.