Peter Esterhazy on the unrest in Hungary

In an interview with Zsolt Greczy, novelist Peter Esterhazy defends the secret speech delivered by Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, who admitted to having lied to his voters in the election campaign. The publication of the speech triggered the greatest wave of protests in Hungary since 1989. "We're lying to ourselves when we say we didn't know that politicians tell lies. We knew. In fact we even expect them to do so to a certain extent. We want politicians to dress up reality and make it a little more palatable. Hungarian society has missed the opportunity to create an atmosphere in which honesty is rewarded – the way we deal with our Stasi past illustrates this... The emperor himself has admitted to being naked. This is why we can't laugh about it the way we laugh about the fairytale."

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