The novels of Hungarian writer and photographer Péter Nádas arouse contrary opinions. Susan Sontag rated A Book of Memories (1986) a masterpiece; Michael Hofmann said it “isn’t merely bad but rotten.” Guardian reviewer Tibor Fischer dismissed Parallel Stories (2011) as navel-gazing “historical soup” and characterized Nádas’s admirers as credulous postmodernists or guilt-ridden, over-intellectualizing Germans. Fischer’s text triggered some thoughtful proNádas responses online, locating his work in a present-day “culture war.” Hungary’s right-leaning, populist-nationalist administration apparently