Len Rix - Misplaced Pages

Zimbabwe-born translator of Hungarian literature into English

Len Rix is a Zimbabwe-born translator of Hungarian literature into English, noted for his translations of Antal Szerb's Journey by Moonlight and The Pendragon Legend and of Magda Szabó's The Door and Katalin Street.

Early life and education

Len Rix was born in Zimbabwe in 1942, where he studied English, French and Latin at the (then) University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. In 1963 he won a Commonwealth Scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, where he read English. He worked as a lecturer at the University of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and subsequently as a teacher of English at Manchester Grammar School (where he was also Head of Careers), before retiring in 2005 to live in Cambridge. Rix learned Hungarian on his own, using textbooks, audio recordings and literature.

Translations

Len Rix's first published translation from Hungarian was of Tamás Kabdebó's Minden idők (A Time for Everything) (Cardinal Press, 1995), but he is best known for his renderings of Antal Szerb, especially Journey by Moonlight (Utas és holdvilág, 1937), and of Magda Szabó's The Door (Az ajtó, 1987) and Katalin Street (Katalin utca, 1969).

Awards and honors

2006 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (short-listed) for the translation of Magda Szabó's The Door
2006 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize winner, for the translation of Magda Szabó's The Door
2015 New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2015, for Magda Szabó's The Door
2018 PEN Translation Prize, winner, for the translation of Katalin Street by Magda Szabó
2019 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation (short-listed) for the translation of Magda Szabó's Katalin Street
2020 Hyman Wingate Prize for Writing about Jewry, long-listed for Magda Szabó's Katalin Street
2020 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation (short-listed) for the translation of Magda Szabó's Abigail
2021 Hungarian Gold Cross of Merit (Magyar Köztársasági Arany Érdemkereszt - Polgári) for his work in translating Hungarian literary classics into the English language

Bibliography

Literary works translated from Hungarian

A Time for Everything (Minden idők), by Tamás Kabdebó), Cardinal Press, 1995
Journey by Moonlight (Utas és holdvilág), by Antal Szerb), Pushkin Press, 2001
The Door (Az ajtó), by Magda Szabó), Harvill Secker, 2005
The Pendragon Legend (A Pendragon legenda), by Antal Szerb), Pushkin Press, 2006
Oliver VII (VII. Olivér), by Antal Szerb, Pushkin Press, 2007
The Queen's Necklace (A királynő nyaklánca), by Antal Szerb), Pushkin Press, 2009
Love in a Bottle (Szerelem a palackban), by Antal Szerb, Pushkin Press, 2010
The Third Tower (A harmadik torony), by Antal Szerb, Pushkin Press, 2014
A Martian's Guide to Budapest (Budapesti kalauz marslakók számára), by Antal Szerb, Magvető, 2015
Katalin Street (Katalin utca), by Magda Szabó, NYRB Classics, 2017
Abigail (Abigél), by Magda Szabó, NYRB Classics, 2020
The Enchanted Night, Transylvanian and other Tales, by Miklós Bánffy, Pushkin Press, 2020
The Fawn, by Magda Szabó, MacLehose Press, 2023

Other translations

In the Footsteps of the Gods (from the early journalism of Sándor Márai),The Hungarian Quarterly No. 185, Spring 2007

Other publications

"Shakespeare's Meaning in 'The Merchant of Venice'", University of Rhodesia 'Studies in Literature' Series, No 7, 1974
"Charles Mungoshi's 'The Coming of the Dry Season'", Mambo Review of Contemporary African Literature, November 1974
"Some Recent Criticism of Doris Lessing", Zambezia, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1977
The Selected Works of Arthur Shearly Cripps, Mambo Press, 1976 (co-editor, responsible for Introduction and Bibliography)
Rhodesian Literature in English: A Bibliography (with Pichanik et al.), Mambo Press, 1977
"The Subtle Art of Antal Szerb", The Hungarian Quarterly, No. 186, Summer 2007
"Magda Szabó: Acclaimed author of 'The Door'" (obituary), The Independent, November 2007
"In Praise of Translation", The Hungarian Quarterly, No. 193, Spring 2009

Poetry

Anthologised in Rhodesian Poetry Nos 11 (1972-3), 12 (1975) and 13 (1976-7)
Anthologised in 25 Years of South African Poetry, New Coin, Grahamstown, 1980
Individual poems in Two Tone (Rhodesia), New Coin (South Africa), Staple, Iota,The Interpreter's House (UK), and The New Hungarian Quarterly (Hungary)

Film

The Door (2005), translation used for English version of 2012 film The Door by István Szabó, starring Helen Mirren
Evolution (2021), English language translation of script by Kata Wéber and Kornél Mundruczó

References

"British Literary Translator Len Rix Gets Hungarian State Award". Hungary Today. 2021-10-26. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
"In interview with: Len Rix". theboar. 2020-01-06. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
"Magda Szabó's The Door is one of The New York Times Book Review '10 Best Books of 2015'". December 4, 2015. Archived from the original on December 10, 2015. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
John Maher (February 21, 2018). "Long Soldier, Zhang, Le Guin Win At 2018 PEN Literary Awards". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
"The 2018 PEN America Literary Awards Winners". PEN America. February 20, 2018. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
Porter Anderson (January 31, 2018). "Industry Notes: PEN America's Finalists". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
"2019 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation shortlist announced". University of Warwick. October 28, 2019. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
"Long List Announced for the 2020 Wingate Prize". The Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation. December 20, 2019. Archived from the original on December 20, 2019. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
"2020 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation shortlist announced". University of Warwick. November 11, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
"British literary translator Len Rix gets Hungarian state award". The Budapest Times. October 26, 2021. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
"Magda Szabó: Acclaimed author of 'The Door'". The Independent.

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