Penguin reissues '60s classic

Penguin Classics is to reissue a novel from the 1960s that was fêted by Michael Frayn and Margaret ­Drabble, but has been out of print for 20 years following a rights dispute.

In Praise of Older Women by Hungarian emigré Stephen Vizinczey has a highly unusual publishing history.

The début novel—a coming-of-age tale about a young man's sexual education following his departure from Hungary in 1956—was originally self-published in 1965 when the author was a writer and producer working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It went on to become the first and only self-published novel to top the bestseller lists in Canadian literary history.

The book was subsequently published in the US and in the UK, where Pan brought out a paperback in 1968. Around 600,000 copies were sold, with rave reviews coming from the likes of Drabble and Frayn.

But Vizinczey's relationship with his US publisher Ian Ballantine, who had acquired world rights, turned sour. Vizinczey's second novel An Innocent Millionaire, described by Victoria Glendenning as "a crescendo of treachery and exploitation", features a rapacious New York agent named Vallantine.
The author regained the rights more than 15 years later, and became wary of selling them again. In Praise of Older Women went out of print in the UK, even though Vizinczey has lived in London since 1966.

In 2001, the book received its first French publication, getting excellent reviews and staying on the bestseller lists for 72 weeks. It has now sold more than five million copies worldwide, according to Penguin, as well as being filmed twice; one version starred Faye Dunaway, and a Canadian version starred Tom Berenger.

Penguin Classics publisher Adam Freudenheim said he had acquired rights to the novel directly from Vizinczey. Publication in March 2011 will be accompanied by an advertising campaign.
"It is such a famous title, people have heard of it, but a lot of younger people haven't read it. It has the potential to run and run," he said.