Len Rix

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

Personal life

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 teacher of English at Manchester Grammar School (where he was also Head of Careers) before retiring in 2005 to live in Cambridge.

Translations

Len Rix's first published translation 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), reprinted several times since first issued by Pushkin Press in 2001. In 2006 his translation of Magda Szabó's "The Door" ("Az ajtó", 1987) was short-listed for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and awarded the [http://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/about/translationprize/prevwinners.html Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize] .

Bibliography

Novels 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

Translations published in journals
* A Martian's Guide to Budapest, by Antal Szerb, The Hungarian Quarterly, No 180, Winter 2005
* In the Footsteps of the Gods (from the early journalism of Sandor Marai), 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

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)

External links

* [http://www.hlo.hu/object.2A8D3A10-53C3-4B7E-8313-1836F447119C.ivy Interview with Hungarian Literature Online]
* [http://www.africaguide.com/features/trvafmag/006.htm Article on Great Zimbabwe]
* [http://www.hungarianquarterly.com/no180/5.html Translation of Antal Szerb's "A Martian's Guide to Budapest"] in "Hungarian Quarterly" (2005)
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/generalfiction/0,6121,528287,00.html Guardian review of Journey By Moonlight]
* [http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/article1168697.ece Independent review of The Pendragon Legend]