Out of Oneself

An enquiry into the nature or eroticism, an unflinching exploration of the physical and psychological aspects of love bordering on sexual mysticism, Out of Oneself is a collection of two novellas that explore two different epochs in Hungarian history through the sexual relationships of its characters. One, an agonizing love triangle between an extraordinarily beautiful stage actress, a young Catholic priest, and a Jewish engineer in the 1930s, the other, the ecstatic union of an auto mechanic-cum-screenwriter and a young movie actress who promises redemption through pure sensuality in Budapest of the 1980s, these form the central constellations for the author's exploration of carnality's relationship to spirituality. Though chronologically separated by half a century, one story resonates with the other through what Pályi calls the "language of the body."