Writer, translator, Esperantoist István Nemere has died, his wife Judit Szentgyörgyi announced on his social media page.

"István Nemere passed away in the 80th year of his life, after a successful and extremely productive life. What he created in his life is so grandiose and unique that many have not even realized it until now. His memory will remain with us forever through his books," wrote Judit Szentgyörgyi, the writer's wife, on her social media page.

He wrote as long as he lived and lived as long as he wrote

he added.

István Nemere recently celebrated his eightieth birthday, took part in a short signing, and then got sick on the way home. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

According to István Nemere's recollections, he loved the village lifestyle. On the other hand, he experienced school as suffering; he had a hard time with the system of the educational institute and most of the classes, he only liked the literature and geography classes. As a teenager, he created writings that attracted the attention of his teachers. He finished high school at the Lovassy László Gymnázium in Veszprém, but even here he had difficulties with most of the subjects. In the fourth year, he failed three subjects, so he later had to take a supplementary exam. Because of his bad behavior, the school did not recommend that he continue his studies, so he was forced to abandon his ambitions as a film director. He mastered the Esperanto language during his high school years.

According to his own admission, he was not a good student, which is why he could not be a film director, he did not want to follow his father in the medical field, he married four times, and with 758 published works he is a world record holder.

I wasn't a good student, I failed Russian, maths and physics, I even had to take a supplementary high school diploma, so there was no question of following my dreams and becoming a film director. I went to work as a soldier, then as a land surveyor, and then an offer came that they were looking for an autopsy assistant. In a year and a half, we dissected three hundred corpses, at first I had nightmares, but I am still grateful for this work, because I learned a lot from it, for example how fragile life is. I saved for four years. Around that time, at the age of 25, I realized that I was interested in writing, I started and it went very well. I always had something to say

- said the writer earlier, according to whom he has maybe 46 pseudonyms in total, and he started using them in 1995. This was necessary because several publishers printed his books, and in the shops there were twenty Nemere works next to each other.

That's the secret

He said of his working method: "I realized I'm a lark, I like the dawn, that's when it works best, at least I think." He works at his desk at six in the morning, after breakfast, because that's when he's at his best, he says, and he writes continuously until two, only stopping for lunch. After a little rest and a longer walk in the afternoon, he starts working again, from half past five to seven. That's the secret, forty thousand characters are born during this time. For the five hundred books, you need to work on several jobs at the same time:

I am writing the main book and preparing for the rest, looking for sources. If I finish one book on Monday afternoon, I start another on Tuesday.

Nemere also talked about the fact that if someone in Hungary gets involved in a genre that is not accepted, then there is no chance. "Crime and science fiction were like that, and many people still believe that Nemere writes science fiction as a profession," said the author, who also wrote volumes of documentaries, social novels and monographs.

His first volume was published at the age of thirty, and he was never admitted to the Hungarian Writers' Association, even though he was perhaps the only writer who really wanted membership, he applied for eight years and was not even rejected in the first three years. The then president had 4 books, Nemere had 18 at the time.

"Once I went to a writers' union meeting, it was terrible, even though our big names were there, from Tibor Gyurkovics to István Bella, and I ran away from there. In my eyes, they were very burnt.”

He had more to say

István Nemere recently celebrated his eightieth birthday. For the event, his publisher, colleagues and friends organized a surprise for the writer, who was greeted at the National Széchényi Library. The creator thought he was coming to the presentation of his 795th volume, the book Broken Wings, but instead he was received by the Society of Historical Novel Writers and the World Ocean publishing house together with his friends and loved ones. The creator spoke of the event as the most fantastic birthday surprise of his life, and he also told Blikk with a smile:

I have a lot more to say! My competitors have all died out around me. I compete with myself.

The event took place in a good atmosphere, where the publisher also surprised the 80-year-old artist by giving him copies of his five new volumes published over the weekend, so in addition to the round birthday, he also arrived with 800 published works. From there, the artist went to the Duna Plaza for an autograph session, but on the way home he got sick in the car. He was transported by ambulance to the hospital, where he was kept under deep anesthesia, his doctors fought for his life, but they could not save him. István Nemere, who is one of the most prolific authors in the world, was faithful to his previously well-known phrase until his death: "I write as long as I live, and I live as long as I write."

Featured image: István Nemere on May 3, 2015. Photo: Gyula Czimbal / MTI