Cikánský Mojžíš

Translated from Hungarian by Robert Svoboda.

Zsolt Kácsora's novel Gypsy Moses (Cigány Mózes, 2020) is a project without parallel in contemporary Hungarian literature. Its main character is a drug-addicted criminal of Roma origin. Under the influence of hallucinations caused by intoxicants and reading religious literature, he becomes convinced that he is the new Moses and instigates a prison riot with the aim of leading the Hungarian Roma community to their Indian homeland. The book is an exceptionally successful parody of the worldviews painted by self-proclaimed prophets, pub pundits, and not-quite-normal founders of strange churches, but at the same time it is also a heroic epic turned upside down—an urgent cry for help for all minorities and people on the run.

Zsolt Kácsor (born 1972) comes from Eger. He is one of the most important contemporary Hungarian journalists and writers, not least because of his remarkable sensitivity to social issues. In his own words, he makes his living exclusively from writing, and for a good three decades he has been regularly publishing articles and texts in the most important forums dealing with public affairs in Hungary. To date, he is the author of six novels, and Gypsy Moses is his first work to be translated into Czech.