| Author | Tibor Fischer |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | The New Press (US) Polygon Books (UK) |
| Release date | 1992 |
Under the Frog is the 1992 debut novel of British writer Tibor Fischer.[1] The book was a winner of the 1992 Betty Trask Award,[2] and was shortlisted for the 1993 Booker Prize.[3]
Plot
The novel is a black comedy set in Hungary in the years immediately following the end of World War II and culminates in the 1956 uprising. Its protagonists are Gyuri, Pataki and several others, basketball players who dream of escaping their dead-end factory jobs, and travel to all their basketball gigs in the nude, even when this involves using public transport.
The book especially parodies the trumpeting of the "gains of socialism" by the regime, empty rhetoric which, Fischer suggests, all but the dimmest were able to see through even from the beginning.
Meaning of the title
The title is taken from a Hungarian expression, "a béka segge alatt" used to describe any situation when things can't seem to get any worse: "under a frog's arse, down a coalmine".
References
- ^ British Council. "Tibor Fischer | British Council Literature". literature.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 2015-10-18.
- ^ "Betty Trask Past Winners | Society of Authors - Protecting the rights and furthering the interests of authors". societyofauthors.org. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 2015-10-18.
- ^ "Booker Prize 1993". Booker Prize. Retrieved 2025-06-07.