Fatelessness

Fateless or Fatelessness (Hungarian: Sorstalanság, lit. "Fatelessness") is a novel by Imre Kertész, winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize for literature, written between 1969 and 1973 and first published in 1975.

The novel is a semi-autobiographical story about a 14-year-old Hungarian Jew's experiences in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. The book is the first part of a trilogy, which continues in A kudarc ("Fiasco" ISBN 0-8101-1161-6) and Kaddish for an Unborn Child ("Kaddish for an Unborn Child" ISBN 1-4000-7862-8).

Kertész won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2002, "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history".

The book was first published in English in 1992 as Fateless (ISBN 0-8101-1049-0 and ISBN 0-8101-1024-5), while in 2004 a second translation appeared (ISBN 1-4000-7863-6) under the correctly translated title Fatelessness.

Plot summary

The novel is about a young Hungarian boy, György "Gyuri" Köves, living in Budapest. The book opens as György's father is being sent to a labor camp. Soon afterwards, György receives working papers and travels to work outside of the Jewish quarter. One day all of the Jews are pulled off of the buses leaving the Jewish quarter, and are sent to Auschwitz on a train without water. Arriving there, György lies about his age, unknowingly saving his own life, and tells us of camp life and the conditions he faces.

Fateless (film)

Fateless (Hungarian: Sorstalanság) is a Hungarian film directed by Lajos Koltai, released in 2005. It is based on the semi-autobiographical novel Fatelessness by the Nobel Prize-winner Imre Kertész, who also wrote the screenplay. It tells the story of a teenage boy who is sent to concentration camps at Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Zeitz.

The film's music was composed by Ennio Morricone, and one of its songs was sung by Lisa Gerrard. The film is one of the most expensive movies ever produced in Hungary, with a cost of $12 million.

The film also features British actor Daniel Craig, who plays a cameo as an American Army Sergeant.

The film was screened in Hungary and Germany (at Berlinale), at the Telluride Film Festival in Telluride, Colorado as well as the Toronto International Film Festival.

Awards and nominations