Directory:András Gregorik

András Gregorik (born 1976) is a Hungarian novelist and screenwriter. His main themes include, both in fiction and non-fiction, the social and/or emotional isolation of highly sensitive individuals due to mental disorders, misfortune, poverty or simply being different, and their ensuing redemption through a spiritual journey of either a Christian or psychological kind.

Biography

Childhood and youth

Gregorik was born in Budapest on May 10th 1976 to a lower middle class family. His parents, a Jewish economist mother and a Unitarian entrepreneur father, divorced when he was 6, and he rarely saw his father afterwards, living with his mother and grandmother. Initially a highly social child and a good pupil, Gregorik became interested in books and computers, beginning to write fiction in his teens, including early drafts of the fantasy world Arfondam, the premises of a novel started several years later. He also wrote game walkthroughs, and some of them were published in issues of the early gaming magazine Commodore Világ. He enjoyed solitude throughout his teens, and was an ardent fan of speculative fiction, horror films and computer role-playing games.

Following his years at Anna Frank High School in Budapest, he began working as a translator of film dialogs around 20, and worked for several months on a horror-themed PC adventure game ('Below') and a role-playing game ('The Guild') that never materialized due to a shortage of funds. He began writing short stories more regularly around 1997, though none of these early pieces survive. He became highly interested in Realist literature, classical music and psychoanalytical theory, self-teaching these disciplines in the next few years before enrolling in university. He also created what he termed source lore (osforrástan), a custom form of lay psychology influenced by C.G. Jung and V.E. Frankl that formed the core of the novel Basic fault.

Gregorik moved to Budaliget (a leafy suburb of Budapest) in 1998, and started indulging in a newly discovered lifestyle of sex, drugs, rock gigs and goa parties soon after, dating several young women and traveling extensively throughout Europe. Gregorik researched Eastern religions and regarded himself a novice Raja yogi, a Buddhist and a Zen Buddhist, respectively, before becoming a born-again Christian in late 2002. Previously, he was briefly involved with the Church of Scientology, ICOC and the Krishnas. He wrote his first film script (What planet are you from?, 2003) loosely based on his Christian conversion and on Pushkin's Onegin. He unsuccessfully tried to mount a film project based on the script between 2003-5 as a director, shooting plenty of material with prosumer equipment featuring fellow students. He plans to re-edit the material as a short film titled The Introvert. He also created a short documentary about the Sziget Festival called Sziget Etude (2003).

Gregorik majored in English Language and Literature at the University of Budapest between 2001-05, the title of his final thesis was "Shakespeare's approach towards Christian Mysticism after 1600".

Career

From early 2006, Gregorik turned to full time writing. He wrote two screenplays (Basic fault, Pseudolife) and his first novel (also titled Basic fault) in quick succession following a trip to Cuba. None of the three works was published or greenlighted initially despite mostly positive feedback from critics, including the Society of Hungarian Writers (Magyar Írószövetség). Two of his short stories were shortlisted in a literary competition by a Hungarian foundation (2008). A feature film based on his Basic fault is in pre-production stage (2008).

Themes

Gregorik's first three novels each feature a main character that is cut off society for reasons outside his or her influence.

List of works

• Hol élsz te? (What planet are you from?) (script, 2003)
• Shakespeare's approach towards Christian Mysticism after 1600 (essay, 2005)
• Alaphiba (Basic fault) (script, 2006)
• Áléletérzés (Pseudolife) (script, 2006)
• Alaphiba (Basic fault) (novel, 2006)
• A Natasa-kaszt (The Natasha Caste) (novel, 2008)
• Cserébe (Coping skill) (script, 2008)
• Cserébe (Coping skill) (novel, 2008)

List of short stories

• Egy szép este (1998)
• Eszter (2006)
• Session (2006)
• A lány (2006)
• Életében az elso (2006)
• A tábor (2006)
• Dublin (2007)
• Leszakadás (2007)
• Szingli (2007)
• Menj vissza Pestre (2007)
• Fényes nyári nap (2008)

English editions

• Basic fault (pending)

External links

• Personal site
• Two short stories
• Essay 1 [1] [2]
• Essay 2 [3] [4] [5]
• A review
• Old blog

Category:Living people Category:Hungarian writers Category:People from Budapest