Bethlen KataCritiques

Translated from the Original Hungarian by Bernard Adams Kata Bethlen (1700-1759) was the earliest Hungarian woman writer of note and this is the first-ever translation into English of her extraordinary life story. She lived in Transylvania as a well-educated Hungarian aristocrat, interested in science and a devout Calvinist in a Catholic land. Her life was not quiet. During the period of Ottoman dominance, there was religious freedom in Transylvania, but after the Austrian take-over, Roman Catholicism received an impetus and following the death of Kata's first husband, his family initiated a campaign to have her children taken off her so they could be brought up as Catholics. The child-custody battle raged all the way to the Emperor's court in Vienna and Kata lost her case only after a long struggle. Kata's disdain for the Catholic faith makes for amusing reading nowadays, not for its own sake, but because of the (really quite naughty and surprisingly modern) mischief with which she played tricks on local believers to convince them of their errors. A great deal of trouble is recorded in the book regarding her neighbours and relatives. Her account is personal - the reason for her nickname Arva, 'the Bereaved', is fully explained - and she was certainly a child of her times, but here is an authentic voice from a remote part of Europe almost unknown to English readers, and a literary milestone in its own right. The author remains something of a 'cult' figure in Hungary and Romania. The translator has contributed a substantial introduction on the political and literary background, and the book is illustrated with early engravings, a map, a family tree, a traditional portrait of the countess (reproduced overleaf), and an index.