Fischer, Tibor

(British, 1959– )

Born in Stockport to Hungarian parents, Fischer worked as a journalist before he began his first novel, Under the Frog (1993), which takes its title from the Hungarian expression for being at the lowest point in life—‘under a frog's arse and down a coal-mine’. It is a sad but witty account of two young men surviving the chaos of communism as part of a travelling basketball team. Set in post-war Hungary in the years leading up to the revolution in October 1956, it follows the fortunes of the team in pursuit of sex and avoidance of work. Fischer's hilariously absurd third novel, The Collector Collector (1996), is narrated by an ancient, sentient bowl which has mentally catalogued a long history of extraordinary human behaviour and is now tired of the world, convinced that it will never be surprised again.

David Flusfeder, Joseph O'Neill, Douglas Adams  RP