A Novel of Forgetting Magda Szabó: Mózes egy, huszonkettő [Moses, Book I:22], the ultimate Kádárist novel

The article focuses on the novel of acclaimed Hungarian writer, Magda Szabó, Mózes egy, huszonkettő (Moses Book I:22). It argues that the novel, published in 1967, can be regarded as the “ultimate Kádárist novel” in which the young generation rejects its ancestors’ clinging to memory and remembrance and in this they perfectly conform to the foundations of Kádár’s post-1956 regime. The article explains why and how this forgetting should be understood in the era and how it manifested itself in the population. A close reading of the novel illustrates how this desire to forget, or at least the rejection of historical memory reflects in the generational conflict. T the same time, through the analysis of this novel and the mention of a few other books by Szabó, the article also hopes call into question the writer’s frequent utterances of having been among those the regime did not appreciate, even persecuted. Quotations from the author, as well as from the criticism of the novel hope to offer a more nuanced understanding of this writer and offer venues for firther studies about her.