My Redundant Sentences
Class, stand at attention! Teacher, I’m here to report to you that the class size is thirty-five, three are absent, namely Kiss, Faragó, Satunyek, thirty-two are present. Class, at ease, sit down. Today’s homework was to read the state structure of the Habsburgs, up to the first paragraph on page sixty-seven. Pardon me, I apologize, Principal, please don’t be upset with me, I didn’t say hello because I didn’t see you, Principal. I’m not lying, Mom! I’m not raising my voice, just telling you that I’m not lying. I’m not yelling. I’m not talking back at all. Since the Hungarian orders couldn’t free themselves from Werbőczy’s Opus Tripartitum approach even in the 18th century, they became increasingly unfit for modern governance. Homework: 1) Characterize the important social and economic changes of the era. 2) The class structure of the feudal society after the Battle of Mohács. 3) The relationship between the Hungarian nobility and the Habsburgs. I would like to apply to the Faculty of Humanities. I will now open the general meeting. Let’s sing a marching song! Why would I like to apply to the Faculty of Humanities? I would like to apply to the Faculty of Humanities because I have wanted to be a teacher ever since I was a small child. My mother’s brother, Uncle Feri, has told me a lot about what it’s like to be a teacher, because he’s a teacher. I will begin the review and discussion of the film Fish on the Shore. The film explores the problems of modern life. The creators used the tools of realism to portray the main character. The message of the movie: We can’t give up hope even in difficult situations. What is redundant is pointless. This is a very important basic truth from one of the prominent figures of the French Enlightenment. I would have expected a secretary of a self-development group to know this. It’s part of common knowledge. (Part of common knowledge, strictly speaking.) Now, on the occasion of our high school commencement, on behalf of my peers, I would like to thank our teachers and the principal for their hard work, which we will always remember. We’re standing here at these moments, nearly moved to tears, about to enter the real world. Thank you very much for lunch, the fried chicken was delicious! Gaudeamus igitur. Kati, don’t leave, I need you! I need only you, please understand. Did I get a letter? Anna, don’t leave, I need you! Júlia, I’m waiting for your return, I miss you, and I need you! I think my entrance exam went reasonably well. Did I get a letter? I think my entrance exam went extremely well. PURPOSE OF YOUR TRIP: tourism. EXPECTED LENGTH: 14 days. WHERE: GDR. GOAL: My goal is to travel to many places and meet people. I’d like to visit the socialist German Democratic Republic because, on the one hand, I’d like to refresh my German language skills, and on the other hand, I’ve never been there. This would make an old dream of mine come true. Júlia Sós, 22/B Eötvös Street, Budapest. I’m thinking about you a lot here in Berlin. I’ll be home on the twenty-fourth. If by any chance you’ve changed your mind, give me a call, you know the number. Rose, you have a pretty name. I like everything here. Du bist schön! Doch! Write to me! Schreibe mir. I had a great time in Germany. Oh, yes, Berlin is a very interesting city. I did see it. That, too. Did anybody call me on the telephone? Did I get a letter? When did it come? From the university? Please don’t cry, Mom, not everything is lost yet. I’d like to appeal your 8195646/E order, according to which my application for admission is rejected due to lack of space, although I have achieved the required score for admission. Please take into consideration that I have wanted to be a teacher ever since I was a small child. My mother’s brother, Uncle Feri, has told me a lot about what it’s like to be a teacher, because he’s a teacher. Literature means the most to me, and I’m actively engaged in it. I’m a member of the Organization of Young Communists, and I’ve already done a lot of volunteer work. I was a member of senior management in high school. Did I get a letter? Mr. Lajos, I came here because I wasn’t admitted to university due to lack of space. We did appeal, and I thought I could ask you, Mr. Lajos, to help us. You must know someone here in the Ministry of Education who could put in a good word for me. Did anybody call me on the telephone? Uncle Feri, I’d love it if you could ask around for me. I know you have influential friends at the Department of Education, Uncle Feri. Dad, go see Mr. Jenő! Ági, may I walk you home? Mom, please don’t cry. The appeal was rejected, and that’s it. No worries, they’ll accept me next year. Something will happen. Why do I want to be a printer’s apprentice? I want to be a printer’s apprentice because I’m actively engaged in literature, and I’m interested in how a book is made, technically speaking. You’re right, Comrade Foreman, I’ll do it. I’ll fix it. Of course I have wanted to be a printer ever since I was a small child, Comrade Team Leader. Ági, come meet me in front of the printing house! Let’s go to the movies, if you also want to. Mom, may I please have twenty forints? Ten, then. I’m done, Comrade Chief Foreman. I don’t have any problems, Comrade Chief Engineer. I’m satisfied with everything. The food at the cafeteria is decent. Did I get a letter? Why would I like to be admitted to the Faculty of Political Science and Law? I’d like to go to the Faculty of Political Science and Law because I’m interested in a legal career. My father is a lawyer, and he told me a lot about legal work. I used to want to go to the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences to become a teacher, but I no longer want to be a teacher. I’d rather be a lawyer. No, the reason why I didn’t apply for the second time to the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences is not because I ran out of courage and was afraid of another failure. No, it wasn’t because of that. Dad, just to be on the safe side, please go see Mr. Jenő! I’m looking for the Comrade Editor in Chief. Is he in? It’s about a short story. My father went to the hospital, and I’m going to visit him today. My father got admitted to the hospital because something is wrong with his heart. I’ll definitely go in today, or tomorrow at the latest. Dad, you’ll see, you’ll be able to come home a week from now! Mom, may I have ten forints? The written and oral entrance exam went reasonably well. Did I get a letter? The entrance exam went extremely well! Truly, it did. I’m not saying this as a consolation, believe me, Dad. I’m waiting for the results. I’m sitting on pins and needles. Standing. Lying down. I got accepted! I got accepted! Viva! Hurray! I’m really happy that I can finally be a university student. Ági, don’t leave, I need you! I’m really really really happy that I can finally be a university student, but before that I still have to do eleven months of military service. I’m waiting for my draft card. I hate to wait! Did I get a letter? Hello! Yes, I’d like to talk to my mother. Mom, please be strong! We must go to the hospital right away. Mom, please don’t cry, not here, you can cry at home. Wipe your face. We cherish his memory. Did I get a letter? Comrade Sergeant, I’m here to report that no special incident occurred during my term of service. I understand. At ease, military unit. Comrade Major, I’d like to request a leave starting at the thirteenth hour on the twenty-fifth of this month until the twenty-fourth hour on the twenty-sixth. On the day of my military discharge, on behalf of my comrades, I thank our superiors for their hard work, which we will always remember. Mom, may I have a ten-forint bill? A five, then. University is completely different from high school. This is now real life, in its original form. I’m looking for the Comrade Editor in Chief. He’s not in? When will he be in? The topics to be developed for the Hungarian legal history seminar are as follows: 1) Characterize the important social and economic changes of the era. 2) The class structure of the feudal society from 1526 to 1600. 3) Rights of certain orders in Habsburg Hungary. Why would I like to be an author? I’d like to be an author, so that I can do something for the benefit of humanity. Ever since I was a small child—
Translator’s Note:
“My Redundant Sentences” is a timeless piece in which the author wishes to show readers what it felt like to be a high school student in Hungary in the late sixties. The air was heavy with clichés and slogans of socialist ideology that students despised, even when they occasionally seemed acceptable. For example, in all the classrooms, above the blackboard, there was this quote by Lenin: “Learn, learn, learn.” Students, however, identified the generation of their parents with the existing system, so the typical generational rebellion against parents was also more or less identified with the resistance against the political system of the era. It was in the wake of all this that Miklós Vámos, a high school student at the time, wrote this rebellious piece as a form of self-expression. He purposely left out harsher political slogans, yet he still couldn’t get it published in his school newspaper—it was rejected for political and ideological reasons.
Shortly afterward, when Vámos was still a high school senior and also an apprentice at a printing house, his first collection of short stories was accepted by Új Írás (New Writing, a prominent literary and arts journal founded in 1961). Coincidentally, a few months later, along with other short writings of his, “My Redundant Sentences” also got published in the same journal and has been in print ever since in various short story collections. Its publication was such a success that young actors, galvanized by a constant need to rebel against oppression, learned it and recited it at various performances, and once even on national television. Censorship conditions at the time were like a fishing net: sometimes slightly larger fish managed to get through. In “Fish on the Shore,” mentioned in this story and published in X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine, Vámos alludes to this mysterious and deceiving nature of socialism.
Per the author’s admission, belonging to a younger generation that sought to think freely rather than languish in ideology was exhilarating. Young people had the courage to push back against a society that was not conducive to free thinking and human flourishing. It would of course be another two decades before the fall of the Iron Curtain.
With its parodic style, “My Redundant Sentences” offered a fitting and clever way to criticize the then socialist regime that ruled with an iron fist and created an environment steeped in poverty and authoritarian control. Unfortunately, this sensitive topic remains a relatable and somewhat universal theme that resonates across time, language, and culture. The story starts off with the mandatory reporting to the teacher by the hetes, who was responsible for noting attendance, keeping the blackboard clean, and handling other mundane chores for a week. Everyday struggles and tough choices about professions or higher educational institutions (many of which often didn’t let students in for political reasons) are all molded into this short piece, sprinkled with micro travelogues, references to fleeting romances, and attempts at finding loopholes in the system. Readers are given insight into the year during which the protagonist faces numerous difficulties and is in constant turmoil over his decisions. The recurring question “Did I get a letter?” represents one of those academic pressure points. Overall, each seemingly simple and repetitious sentence conveys an underlying anxiety about hopes and dreams for the future under the banner of socialism.
As I reflect on translating this piece, it becomes increasingly obvious that there is more to the story than meets the eye. In addition to keeping this dense narrative simple and concise, I particularly enjoyed rendering the old-fashioned honorifics into English. The word “comrade” was added to nearly every title back then. “Comrade Chief Editor” and the like admittedly sound a bit dusty and ironically redundant, but their use was standard practice.
Last but not least, another similar example where Vámos describes what it’s like to be under the thumb of an authoritarian organization is “Petition (rough draft),” a short story that also appears in ANMLY.
Miklós Vámos is a Hungarian writer who has had over forty books published, many of them in multiple languages. His most successful book is The Book of Fathers, which has been translated into nearly thirty languages. Vámos’s ancestors on his father’s side were Jews who perished in the Holocaust. Fortunately, his father, a member of a penitentiary march battalion, survived. In an effort to save himself from his chaotic heritage, he turned to writing novels. His selected writings have appeared in various publications, including Asymptote, the Forward, Hungarian Literature Online, The New York Times, and Tablet.
Ági Bori originally hails from Hungary, and she has lived in the United States for more than thirty years. In addition to translating between Hungarian and English, her favorite avocation is reading Russian short stories in the original. Her translations and writings are available or forthcoming in 3:AM, Apofenie, Asymptote, The Baffler, B O D Y, the Forward, Hopscotch Translation, Hungarian Literature Online, Litro Magazine, Maudlin House, The Rumpus, Tablet, Trafika Europe, Turkoslavia, and elsewhere. She is a translation editor at the Los Angeles Review.