{"id":5514,"date":"2026-10-08T13:20:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T13:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/szollosimatyas.hu\/?page_id=5514"},"modified":"2026-10-08T13:35:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T13:35:01","slug":"alternating-current","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/szollosimatyas.hu\/en\/alternating-current\/","title":{"rendered":"Alternating current \/ V\u00e1lt\u00f3\u00e1ram"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>With his first volume of short stories,<em> Alternating Current<\/em>, M\u00e1ty\u00e1s Sz\u00f6ll\u0151si burst into Hungarian literature due to his unique voice and strong, bewildering storylines in a manner similar to Wells Tower and Paolo Giordano vis-\u00e0-vis American and Italian literature some years ago. The book won the Marg\u00f3 Award for the best first prose volume in Hungary in 2017. The volume, which includes nine short stories is built around a very unusual event, the explosion of a supernova, which can be seen in the sky during the events related in the stories, evoking an apocalyptic atmosphere in each piece. Sz\u00f6ll\u0151si\u2019s short stories can be interpreted separately \u2013 each is a tense dramatic text describing psychological and physical processes with detailed precision \u2013 yet they can also be read as a novel-like flow in which the lives of nine people entwine into a whole. The stories probe varied themes and social issues, such as humiliation, racial discrimination, mourning and dependence. Travelling is a very important element and so is exploring the characters\u2019 external and internal world, which is enforced by genuinely vivid and lifelike dialogues. This volume is entirely unique with its meticulous, detailed images, sometimes film-like descriptions and human fates, which readers can clearly understand and relate to, as well as with its delicate web of references linking the texts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eur\u00f3pa Publisher, Budapest, 2016 \/ Helikon Publisher, Budapest, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marg\u00f3 Prize &#8211; for the best first prose volume (2017)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spiral &#8211; translated by Katalin R\u00e1cz: <a href=\"https:\/\/hlo.hu\/new-work\/matyas-szollosi-spiral.html\">https:\/\/hlo.hu\/new-work\/matyas-szollosi-spiral.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Goodreads: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/en\/book\/show\/33778903-v-lt-ram\">https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/en\/book\/show\/33778903-v-lt-ram<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"418\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/szollosimatyas.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/SzollosiM_Valtoaram_B1_251006-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/szollosimatyas.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/SzollosiM_Valtoaram_B1_251006-1.jpg 418w, https:\/\/szollosimatyas.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/SzollosiM_Valtoaram_B1_251006-1-179x300.jpg 179w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 418px) 100vw, 418px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With his first volume of short stories, Alternating Current, M\u00e1ty\u00e1s Sz\u00f6ll\u0151si burst into Hungarian literature due to his unique voice and strong, bewildering storylines in a manner similar to Wells Tower and Paolo Giordano vis-\u00e0-vis American and Italian literature some years ago. The book won the Marg\u00f3 Award for the best first prose volume in Hungary in 2017. The volume, which includes nine short stories is built around a very unusual event, the explosion of a supernova, which can be seen in the sky during the events related in the stories, evoking an apocalyptic atmosphere in each piece. Sz\u00f6ll\u0151si\u2019s short stories can be interpreted separately \u2013 each is a tense dramatic text describing psychological and physical processes with detailed precision \u2013 yet they can also be read as a novel-like flow in which the lives of nine people entwine into a whole. The stories probe varied themes and social issues, such as humiliation, racial discrimination, mourning and dependence. Travelling is a very important element and so is exploring the characters\u2019 external and internal world, which is enforced by genuinely vivid and lifelike dialogues. This volume is entirely unique with its meticulous, detailed images, sometimes film-like descriptions and human fates, which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/szollosimatyas.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5514"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/szollosimatyas.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/szollosimatyas.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/szollosimatyas.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/szollosimatyas.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5514"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/szollosimatyas.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5531,"href":"https:\/\/szollosimatyas.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5514\/revisions\/5531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/szollosimatyas.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}