Home | Books By Year | Books from 1901
Slave of the Huns
Buy Slave of the Huns now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the book. And once you've experienced the book, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Slave of the Huns' is a novel by the Hungarian writer Gza Grdonyi, published in 1901. The original Hungarian title is 'A lthatatlan ember', which translates literally as 'The Invisible Man', but its title was changed in English (probably to differentiate it from H. G. Wells' novel).
In the opinion of some people, including Grdonyi himself, it is his best work. In 2005 it was ranked no. 38 in the Hungarian version of the survey "Big Read". An English translation by Andrew Feldmr was first published in 1969.
Plot summary
It is set around the time of Attila the Hun, and part of it is based on the Byzantine diplomat Priscus' account of his visit to Attila's court.
The narrator and hero of the novel is a young Byzantine nicknamed Zeta. At the start he is sold into slavery as a child, and bought by Maximinus, in whose household he is treated sadistically. He then becomes a slave of Priscus, who treats him much better, and eventually frees him. He accompanies Priscus on his visit to Attila, and falls in love with Emmo, the daughter of a Hunnish nobleman (a "princesse lointaine" figure). He commits himself to slavery among the Huns in the hope of eventually marrying her, to some extent going native among them.
It includes dramatic accounts of the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains between the Huns and the Romans, and the funeral of Attila.
It may have been influenced by earlier works such as Walter Scott's novel 'Waverley', Shakespeare's play 'Henry V' and Tolstoy's novel 'The Cossacks'.
See also
*Attila the Hun in popular culture
Notes
* [https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0672505002 Amazon review]
* [http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1566684.Slave_of_the_Huns online review]
* [http://mek.niif.hu/00600/00662/00662.htm Online text of the original Hungarian]
Category:Hungarian historical novels
Category:War novels set in the Roman Empire
Category:Novels set in the Byzantine Empire
Category:Novels set in Hungary
Category:Novels about slavery
Category:1901 novels
Category:Cultural depictions of Attila the Hun
Category:Novels set in the 5th century
Category:Child abuse in fiction
Buy Slave of the Huns now from Amazon
<-- Return to books from 1901