Lucien Chardon of Balzac's Lost Illusions has metamorphosed into Laszlo Sardi, Budapest, 1968, in Gazdag's fast-paced satire on careerism. The ambitious Laszlo arrives from the provinces, a novel and a volume of poems in hand, but soon discovers there's no free lunch amid the sophisticated snobbism and ever-changing politics of the literary world. Gazdag's dubious hero hesitates but momentarily to use all his connections-primarily sexual-to their utmost, or to follow a colleague's advice: "You won't be a real journalist until an article appears under your byline that you had nothing to do with." While the political barbs in Lost Illusions sting locally, its satire on a young man's bursting forth into a society delighted to rob him of his confidence and illusions is both universal and timeless.