László Passuth (Budapest, Hungary July 15, 1900- Balatonfüred, Hungary June 19, 1979) was a prolific Hungarian author of historical novels and translator. He is the father of art historian, Krisztina Passuth. He graduated with a law degree from the University of Szeged. From 1919 to 1950 he worked mainly as a bank clerk and then, until his retirement, in a government office for translation. His first attempts as a writer appeared in the 1920s in several magazines. Passuth served as the main secretary of the Hungarian

PEN Club PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internati ...

from 1945–60, although he was expelled in 1948 from the Hungarian Writers’ Union after the Stalinist take-over. His first novel, ''Eurasia'', published in 1937, was followed by a number of historical novels; they showed sophisticated style and attention to precise historical details. In 1939, he published ''Tlaloc Weeps for Mexico'', a novel about

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions o ...

and the

conquest of the Aztec Empire The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire. Taking place between 1519 and 1521, this event saw the Spanish conquistad ...

; it was his first work to attract international attention; it was translated into French, German, Spanish, and English. Among his some 40 novels are also ''Joan of Naples'' (1940), based on the life of the medieval queen, Joan I, and ''Madrigal'' (1968), a novel around the life of composer

Carlo Gesualdo Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (between 8 March 1566 and 30 March 1566 – 8 September 1613) was an Italian nobleman and composer. Though both the Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, he is better known for writing madrigals and pieces of sacred ...

Partial bibliography

''Eurasia'' (1937); ''Studies'', Budapest (1937); ''The Rain God Weeps over Mexico'' (1939) (Eng. Title, '' Tlaloc Weeps for Mexico''); '' Joan of Naples'' (1940); ''The Lombard Château'' (1940-1944); ''The Porphyrogenitus'' (Born in Purple) (1943); ''The Revolving Door'' (1944); ''Cloud and Oasis'' (1946); ''Black Velvet'' (1946); ''Aliens (1949)''; ''In the Eagle’s Talons'' (1956); ''Four Winds in Transylvania'' (1957); ''The Musician of the Duke of Mantua'' (1957) about

Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considere ...

; ''Lagoons'' (1958); ''The World of Tombs Will Talk'' (1959); ''Paradise in the Ocean'' (1959); ''The Dragon’s Teeth'' (1960); ''The Third Majordomo'' (1962) (about Velazquez); ''Rome was buried in Ravenna'' (1963) about Theodoric the Ostrogoth; ''The Gods of Gold are Cold'' (1964) about Raphaël; ''Trench'' (1966); ''Madrigal'' (1968) about Gesualdo; ''Copper'' (1969); ''Eternal Spain'' (1969); ''Field cut seven times'' (1970); ''Naples'' (1972) (educational book); ''My encounter with the Rain God'' (1972); ''Gyilokjáró'' (1973); ''King in the Broken Mirror'' (1974); ''Memorial and So Forth'' (1975); ''Tower of Shadows'' (articles, essays and travel notes) (1977); ''Cave Pictures'' (autobiog.) (1978); ''Medusa'' (1979); ''Mirror of Water'' (1980); ''Ten Years under the same roof'' (1981), ''Anselme'' (1983).

Sources

(hu) (es) This article is essentially taken from the Hungarian and Spanish Wikipedia articles on László Passuth.

External sources

Biography in Spanish

Diario ''

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'', 21 June 1979, page. 31 {{DEFAULTSORT:Passuth, Laszlo 1900 births 1979 deaths