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Paper short abstract

This paper explores the translation and reception of Japanese science fiction (SF) in Cold War Hungary. Focusing on the reception of Abe Kōbō’s works, it examines how Japanese SF functioned simultaneously as imaginative escapism and as a vehicle for ideological discourse.

Paper long abstract

The genre of science fiction (SF) emerged in the 1960s in both Japan and Hungary, albeit under different ideological and institutional conditions. In postwar Japan, following the launch of the SF fanzine Uchūjin ([Cosmic Dust] 1957) and the founding of S-F Magazine by Hayakawa Publishing (1959), SF developed into a fully established literary genre. Influenced by European and American SF, writers such as Hoshi Shinichi, Komatsu Sakyō, and Tsutsui Yasutaka - the “three masters” of Japanese SF – played a central role in shaping the genre’s early directions.

While in Japan SF quickly expanded into popular media such as manga and anime, in Hungary the genre was framed primarily as “serious” literature. Editor and writer Péter Kuczka was instrumental in the institutionalisation of SF through the Kozmosz Fantasztikus Könyvek [Cosmos Fantastic Books] series (1969–1987) and later the magazine Galaktika ([Galaxy] 1972–1995). Drawing on Darko Suvin’s concept of science fiction as “cognitive estrangement,” the genre was culturally legitimised within socialist Hungary. At the same time, in order to align with socialist cultural policy, popular American science fiction was largely excluded, and translation choices were carefully filtered (Szélesi 2019).

Within this framework, several works of Japanese SF were translated into Hungarian, including texts by Hoshi, Komatsu and Tsutsui. Among these authors, Abe Kōbō occupied a prominent position. Regarded in Hungary as a “progressive” writer due to his political affiliations, Abe functioned as a key mediating figure through whom Japanese SF became accessible to Hungarian readers. His novel Daiyon kanpyōki (Inter Ice Age 4) was published in the Kozmosz Fantasztikus Könyvek series as early as 1969, while selected works by Japanese SF writers appeared in Galaktika and related literary venues.

Following a brief comparative overview of the emergence of science fiction in Japan and Hungary, this paper focuses on the translation and reception of Abe Kōbō’s works in socialist Hungary. Drawing on contemporary newspaper and magazine reviews, I examine how Abe’s texts were framed for Hungarian audiences and how they served simultaneously as imaginative escapism and as narratives that could be mobilised to support socialist ideological discourse.