Gold in the Mud: A Hungarian Peasant Novel

About Gold in the Mud (Sárarany, 1910) Torn between the torpid bliss of his home life and a seething quest for prosperity, Dani Turi, the peasant Don Juan and leader of Kiskara village, follows his urge to break the bonds of his low social status, only to find his path barred by the aristocratic landowners bent on maintaining their centuries-long hold on the reins of power. Zsigmond Móricz (1879-1942), one of Hungary’s greatest novelists and the first to portray the peasant classes with full regard for their human aspirations, reveals in this riveting narrative his mastery in drawing complex characters and evoking the unique atmosphere of rural Hungary.