Mátyás Domokos

A Dog Named Madelon

Short story

Unattainable, oh human desire.
Unattainable faery, delusory aim
Vörösmarty

János Bátky, Ph.D., cultivated a variety of countermeasures against the greyness of workaday life. In his childhood he sometimes succeeded in convincing himself that the chocolate he was eating was actually salami. Later in life he developed a great fondness for cocktails. Gin and vermouth conjured up the mighty spirit of extinct evergreens. Red wine laced with curaçao evoked a maiden of sixteen who must surely be married by now. He consistently managed to forget women's faces.
Let's see, what does Jenny look like, he mused one autumn afternoon in London as he stood contemplating the ivy-covered walls of the petite Welsh Methodist church. The churches of London have a miraculous way of preserving the provinciality of true faith in the midst of automobiles.

Translated by John Bátki

Mátyás Domokos
is an essayist and literary critic, author of several collections of essays on contemporary Hungarian literature, among them two on Gyula Illyés.