The works of this year's Nobel Prize for Literature winner are set to appear in Chinese next June, after China's prestigious Shanghai Translation Publishing House won the exclusive rights for translation and publication.

The Hungarian writer Kertesz Imre is expected to be as widely known as his compatriot, 19th-century national poet Sandor Petofi, whose celebrated verse "Life is a treasure, Love even dearer; But to win freedom I would throw both away!" became the motto of many young Chinese intellectuals, and inspired them to dedicate themselves to the cause of revolution.

The Swedish Nobel Academy said in its citation that Kertesz won the prize "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history," referring to the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews and other minority groups.

The Shanghai Translation Publishing House won the authorization from Kertesz and his publishing house, Rowohlt Verlag, in Hamburg, Germany, amid tense competition with six other Chinese publishing houses.

Xu Yanyi and Li Zhen, both professors with the Beijing Foreign Studies University, have been invited to translate all three of Kertesz's winning novels -- Sorstalansag (Fateless), Kaddis a meg nem szuletetett gyermekert (Kaddish for a Child Not Born), and A kudarc (Fiasco).

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2002)