
In a bustling 1920s Budapest café, a melancholy poet finds himself embroiled in an odd encounter with a sharply dressed stranger who introduces himself as John Devil. The stranger, a businessman with a mysterious air, offers the poet a lucrative contract to supply a strange liquid, promising swift payment and a taste of prosperity. Intrigued yet uneasy, the poet wrestles with the absurdity of the deal, his emotions swinging between desperation and curiosity as he prepares to fulfill the terms.
The story unfolds with vivid humor and a touch of the surreal, capturing the poet’s frantic attempts to meet the bizarre demands while navigating his own doubts. As he juggles creative longing and the lure of easy money, the narrative paints a lively portrait of early‑twentieth‑century urban life, where ordinary cafés become stages for extraordinary bargains. Listeners are drawn into a whimsical yet thought‑provoking tale that questions ambition, temptation, and the cost of a seemingly simple agreement.
Language
hu
Duration
~3 hours (228K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Albert László from page images generously made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library
Release date
2020-08-07
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1887–1938
Best known for his sharp humor and inventive style, this Hungarian writer moved easily between satire, fiction, journalism, and parody. His work ranges from playful literary spoofs to the dark, haunting novel Journey Round My Skull, drawn from his own experience of brain surgery.
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