Jenő Rejtő

P. Howard was born Jeno Reich on March 29, 1905 in Budapest, Hungary. He later modified his name to Jeno Rejto. He lived a life that was as adventurous as any of his novels. At the age of 19 he went to Berlin to study theatre acting. When he ran out of money he left school and travelled through Europe and North-Africa. During his trip he joined the French Foreign Legion where he was discharged for medical reasons. People at home gossiped that the young writer bribed the doctors to discharge him, some even speculated that he simply deserted. After spending several years abroad Hungarian newspapers were reporting him dead. It seems probable that the fake news about his death were part of a "marketing campaign" instigated by his mentor, Frigyes Karinthy. After his homecoming he achieved success writing comedies for the theatre. He soon moved on to writing popular fiction under the pennames Gibson Lavery and P. Howard (marketing research indicated that Hungarian readers were more interested in the works of British and American writers). He wrote most of his novels at the café next door to the publishing company. When he had no money on him he paid the waiters with lines and pages from the book he was writing. The waiter then took them to the publisher next door and they paid the bill. A page or two got Rejto a full meal, a few lines a coffee. If the waiters were lucky they got a few letters to cover the tip. On October 9, 1942, an article in the Nazi newspaper "Egyedul vagyunk" ("We Are Alone") called attention to the Jewish author writing in Budapest cafés. Rejto, who was sick at the time, was taken from a hospital for labour service. He died of typhus on January 1, 1943, comforted by his friend, Janos Rajna. His works outlived him and retained a cult classic status in Hungary. In a way they even continued his adventures. They were blacklisted during the early Soviet occupation of Hungary, but they were still available on the black market for hefty prices. After the re-publication of one of his works, The Invisible Legion in 1957, the publisher was flooded with death threats from black market book dealers: if they dared publish another Rejto Jeno book they would be coming for them... His works were elevated from simple pulp fiction to higher literature by his wonderful, absurd sense of humor and his masterful, satiric recreations of the themes and motifs of penny dreadfuls.