Fulgur

This volume is a reprint of the novel published by Zászlónk in 1944.

József Koszterszitz (1898-1970) was one of the most popular youth writers of the after-Trianon generation. An outstanding leader of Regnum Marianum and the Hungarian boy-scout movement, he was familiar with the problems of the youth of his time, and his works gave directions to many generations that followed.

Fulgur, published in 1944, was one of Koszterszitz’s most successful novels and the first piece of Hungarian science-fiction literature for that matter. The main character, a genial Hungarian inventor, finds out how to strike any target with rays – hence the title, Fulgur, the Latin word for ray. The scientist also creates an unbreakable plastic material by using cosmic radiation that he puts into the service of the Hungarian nation. He surrounds the historical borders of Hungary with an impenetrable radiation barrier to close it from the enemies, and he starts re-educating the people in Christian spirit. But the real greatness of his character reveals when the South attacks the North, and he decides to make peace…

In this novel the historical background of the 30’s and 40’s meets the world of fantasy, but they remain separable all along, so young readers while following the characters’ adventures in an imaginary future world can also get a glimpse into an era of distress.