Hungary, after World War II, was a country torn apart by political conflict. Hungarians struggled to survive a long alliance with Germany, Soviet occupation, assumption of power by the Communist part, and the bloody revolution of 1956. The years since that uprising have witnessed the consolidation of a single-party socialist state producing a profound effect not only on the economic and social life of the nation but also on the cultural policies that govern the arts. This volume collects the work of Hungarian authors who, in spite of the turmoil and uncertainty of those years, have developed a