Join us

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Newsletter

Geza Csath

Opium and Other Stories

Cover: Opium and Other Stories - Geza Csath

Geza Csath

Opium and Other Stories

2022, pp. 160, e-Book
ISBN: 9781609458140
Translated by: Jascha Kessler, Charlotte Rogers
Region: Hungary
Paper edition Paper edition Paper edition
$ 12.99
READ NOW READ NOW READ NOW

The book

A rediscovered classic of Hungarian literature, this spellbinding collection vividly depicts the darkest impulses of the human psyche against the backdrop of Europe’s moral and social decline on the eve of World War I

Géza Csáth (pen name of Joszef Brenner) was a writer, playwright, musician, psychiatrist, and physician born in Hungary at the end of the 19th century. One of Sigmund Freud’s earliest followers, he pushed both life and art to radical extremes in an all-consuming—and ultimately fatal—search for the unvarnished truth about the human condition.

Written with unsparing clarity and reminiscent of the works of Frank Kafka and Edgar Allan Poe for their dark pessimism and gothic imagination, the short stories collected here pierce the veil of the seemingly tranquil, ordinary lives of their protagonist. At times realistic, at times dreamlike, Csáth’s gruesome, harrowing tales reveal the violent and irrational forces lurking just beneath the surface of a society on the verge of the abyss.

“A memorable volume, Csáth’s depiction of the collapse of Central Europe, by way of magnification of the collapse of the individual, is uncannily prophetic.”—Joyce Carol Oates, The New Republic

The author

Geza Csath
Gésa Csáth was a Hungarian psychiatrist, one of Freud’s first followers, as well as a music critic and opium addict. In 1919, at the age of 31, he killed his wife and then committed suicide, just one year after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Press

More suggestions

  • Cover: The Bridesman - Savyon Liebrecht

    Savyon Liebrecht

    The Bridesman

    2023, pp. 160, $ 18.00
    From one of the most important voices in contemporary Hebrew literature, the gripping story of a reunion between two family members that brings...
  • Cover: Kids Run the Show - Delphine de Vigan

    Delphine de Vigan

    Kids Run the Show

    2023, pp. 272, $ 26.00
    A cautionary tale for a world in which social media has shattered the boundaries of intimacy.
  • Cover: Everything Calls for Salvation - Daniele Mencarelli

    Daniele Mencarelli

    Everything Calls for Salvation

    2023, pp. 176, $ 17.95
    From one of the most exciting voices in a new generation of Italian writers, a powerful and moving novel that explores both the darkest recesses and...
  • Cover: The House of Gazes - Daniele Mencarelli

    Daniele Mencarelli

    The House of Gazes

    2023, pp. 224, $ 17.95
    The critically acclaimed first novel from the author of Everything Calls for Salvation, adapted into a Netflix Original series, is...
  • Cover: Bournville - Jonathan Coe

    Jonathan Coe

    Bournville

    2023, pp. 400, $ 28.00
    A tender and wickedly funny portrait of England told through four generations of one family.
  • Cover: Belle Greene - Alexandra Lapierre

    Alexandra Lapierre

    Belle Greene

    2023, pp. 496, $ 18.95
    Based on the true story of Belle da Costa Greene, a woman who defied all odds to carve out a destiny of her own choosing, this is a richly imagined...

Join Our Newsletter and receive a FREE eBook!

Stay updated on Europa’s forthcoming releases, author tours and major news.

Are you a bookseller? Click here!

Are you a librarian? Click here!

X