The Bunkerman

Zsigmond Dezső

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The story is set in the mid-80s, a couple of years before the Chernobyl disaster. The main protagonist is Árpi, who lives in a tiny Hungarian village and is the pig farmer for the local cooperative. He has just got married to the already pregnant Anna. Like every other woman in the village his wife dreams about having a large house.

At first, she believes in Árpi, who is busy working on plans, but his behaviour grows increasingly erratic. Eventually, he reveals his real plan to her: he is not building a house but a nuclear bomb shelter. From that moment on, the world around him is turned upside down. His wife and child leave him - and his bunker is all he has left...

This is a dramatic and grotesque comedy about a man attempting to save his fellow men under permanent threat and uncertainty by fleeing to his self-made bunker. The sad and disturbing fortunes of the little man are encapsulated in this impregnable pyramid.