Antal Szerb (Budapest, 1901 - Balf , 1945) was a noted Hungarian scholar and writer. He is recognized as one of the major Hungarian literary personalities of the 20th century.

Life and work

Szerb was born to assimilated Jewish parents in Budapest, but baptized Catholic. He studied Hungarian, German and later English, obtaining a doctorate in 1924. From 1924 to 1929 he lived in France and Italy, also spending a year in London, England.

His first novel, The Pendragon Legend was published the following year (1934). His second and best-known work, Utas és holdvilág (known in English as Journey by Moonlight or The Traveler), came out in 1937. He was made a Professor of Literature at the University of Szeged the same year. He was twice awarded the Baumgarten Prize, in 1935 and 1937.

In 1941 he published a History of World Literature which continues to be authoritative today.

Szerb was deported to a concentration camp during World War II and was beaten to death there in January 1945, at 43.

Selected bibliography

• The Pendragon Legend
• Utas és holdvilág
• History of World Literature

External links

• Guardian Review of Journey by Moonlight
• Review of Journey by Moonlight
• A cached excerpt from History of World Literature