When I was younger, I used to like satire. Now I think I’ve lost the taste for it. In any case, The Pendragon Legend took me much longer to read than it should have.
János Bátky is a young Hungarian scholar in England interested in such subjects as alchemy and Rosicrucianism. At a party he meets the Earl of Gwynedd, who invites him to visit. In his subsequent investigations of the family, he learns of a history of alchemy, Rosicrucianism, and witchcraft, and legends of a midnight horseman, Asaph Pendragon. He is interested to explore the family library.
At the university library, he encounters an athletic simpleton named George Maloney, who doesn’t know how to ask for a book or what book he might want. This man introduces Osborne Pendragon, the Earl’s nephew. Osborne happens to be traveling to Wales to stay with his uncle at the same time as János, and he has invited Maloney. In the meantime, they introduce him to Eileen St. Claire, who offers to drive him there. Some of these characters misunderstand what kind of doctor János is, which has ramifications for the plot.
Once János and his friends arrive at Llanvygan, the Earl’s home (with abandoned Pendragon Castle hanging over the valley), he finds that the Earl is no longer welcoming. This reception is because Mrs. St. Claire has managed to make him look like an enemy. Not only is the Earl engaged in a legal battle with another family for the estate, but there is also a lot of other stuff going on, including appearances of the midnight rider.
Honestly, Szerb has so much going on in the novel that I stopped trying to keep track of the plot. This novel was one he wrote after spending a year in postdoctoral research in England. Among other things, he spoofs Masons, Rosicrucianism, British folklore, British upper-class country life, and gothic and mystery novels. I found it a bit juvenile, frankly, although I’m sure he had a good time writing it. At one point, we’re subjected to about 10 pages from a supposed 18th century manuscript that starts with some silly Masonic rites and didn’t seem to have much relationship to the plot. Similarly, he occasionally throws in a character who seems like he or she is going to be important only to have that person never reappear. He’s probably doing these things on purpose.
My general comment is that there was so much going on that I stopped trying to follow it. Also, what’s not going on is much character development.
What? Me Read? 
I’ve read two books by Szerb, but they don’t sound anything like this one. The first was a travel memoir, in Europe as the clouds of war were gathering, and the other was Oliver VII, written in 1943 shortly before Szerb’s murder in a Nazi labour camp. It’s an absurdist farce about a king who decamps from his responsibilities as the monarch of a failing state called Alturia, and in Venice, the artistic home of intrigue, he falls in with a gang of con-men who see his resemblance to the missing king and he ends up impersonating himself at their behest. It was an odd book, and I needed to look around a bit to discover what he was on about.
It’s really about identity, and how we are not necessarily who we think we are, but what label or role is assigned to us. Szerb thought he was a liberal Christian Hungarian, but the Nazis declared him to be a Jew and that’s why they killed him. Szerb had learned that you are what people say you are, and you have no say in it. Just like those people who attack Jews today without knowing anything about their political or religious beliefs.
Was there an introduction or afterword to help make sense of it?
There may have been, but I often don’t read them unless I feel confused. In this case, he wrote it when he was young, and he was basically making fun of a lot of different things he encountered when studying in England. I just lost track of the plot twists, which were also part of the parody. I didn’t feel like I didn’t understand it, just that I got a little tired of it.
Yes, I’m the same. Especially these days when the intro is often written by an author who may be a lecturer in creative writing at some university but isn’t necessarily an expert.
I get tired of satire very quickly too. All fun and fine to start with, but then it just keeps on going on and on and on (past the second page!) – it’s like being hit over the head with a sledge hammer!
One to miss! Sometimes satire works for me, but not often. Messy plots never work, though!
I think he took the opportunity to make fun of as many things as possible.