The Fawn

By Hungary's most celebrated woman writer, a novel about how little we understand ourselves, let alone others, and in consequence how easily we fail, or even betray, those we love.

Eszter Encsy, a now accomplished actress, finds herself thinking about her impoverished and frustrating childhood and path to accomplishment as she hears news of an old childhood acquaintance. She engages in a series of internal monologues, delving into the depths of the humiliation, isolation, poverty, social and emotional exclusion and despair she has experienced, desperately attempting to unearth and comprehend all of her experiences. At first she recalls them with a disturbing calmness and an indifferent detachment, outwardly remaining unperturbed and icy, but soon finds her manner of speaking and her demeanor slowly changing as it becomes more and more difficult for Eszter to choke down the intense feeling of hatred and resentment she has been allowing to quietly ferment for years. It is a composed, restrained feeling of hatred which is always with her, but breaks out on only a few occasions, and which now begins to contaminate her entire life like a deadly poison.