From the back cover: Lajos Nagy (1883-1954) Living in poverty as a child in semi-feudal Hungary, when he began to write, Lajos Nagy turned his attention to the social injustices and provincialism of his rural surroundings. His first story appeared in a newspaper in 1907, and by the following year, he was on the staff of the periodical Nyugat (West), where his realistic descriptions and naturalistic prise found an attentive audience. His first novel, Vadember (The Wild Man, 1926) shows his puritanical handling of controversial themes at its full maturity. For his 10 novels and a collection of short stories, Lajos Nagy was awarded the prestigious Kossuth Prize. Authoring, Barbering and Other Occupations is a selection of short stories that with their simple plots and shrewd observations on the workings of the individual's soul tell compelling tales of human tragedies, conflicts and relationships in a haunting way. The rich confront the poor, the student the teacher, the peasant the gendarme – whatever the subject, the subject remains the same – an outcry for human dignity in a blighted world. The short stories, selected and translated by Professor Albert Tezla, span forty years of the writer's oeuvre.