The embers
Die Glut ( Hungarian A gyertyák csonkig égnek , 'The candles burn to the stump' ) is a novel by Sándor Márai from 1942, the original of which was published in 1990 and a German translation in 1998.
content
The novel is set in 1941 in a hunting lodge on the edge of the Carpathian Mountains . While he awaits the visit of his childhood friend Konrád, the old Hungarian general Henrik looks back on his life. Henrik and Konrád were good friends in their youth, although Henrik comes from a wealthy family of high nobility, while Konrád is the son of an impoverished baron. On a hunt, however, Konrád aimed his rifle at Henrik. However, he hesitated to shoot, missed the moment and then disappeared "into the tropics". The next day, after Konrád's departure, Henrik visited his room, which Konrád had never let him into, and was surprised by the tasteful furnishings. Here he unexpectedly meets his wife Krisztina, who is also looking around the room; Henrik concluded from her behavior that she was familiar with the room and that she had a love affair with Konrád.
After this incident, Henrik and Krisztina no longer exchange a word. They relate buildings that are far apart from each other to Henrik's extensive property. Eight years later she dies.
For years Henrik tries to explain this incident to himself, to fathom the nature of his relationship with Krisztina and his friendship with Konrád, and to find out the reasons for his suspected double breach of loyalty.
Konrád's return seems to give the general an opportunity to clear up these issues. The very one-sided conversation lasts all night. In a long monologue , Henrik describes the events and his conclusions from them. With his short answers and objections, Konrád only expresses his interest and encourages Henrik to keep going. He never contradicts Henrik's interpretation of the events. However, there is no answer to one of the two questions that Henrik has been working towards all night. Shortly before the dissolution, Henrik himself burns the decisive piece of evidence, a diary of his wife. Konrád then refuses the answer he is the only one who knows. Henrik doesn't even want to ask the second question, as he has already been denied the answer to the first question, but he decides to do so. He asks “whether the real content” of their two lives “wasn't exactly this agonizing longing for a dead woman,” which Konrád replies in the affirmative.
At dawn, Konrád, whom Henrik referred to as his friend in the course of the conversation despite the events in the past, says goodbye to Henrik. The two men part with each other with all signs of friendly respect.
Publications
The novel was first published in German in 1950 under the true-to-original title The candles burn off in a translation by Eugen Görcz. After the great success of a French re-translation by Albin Michel in 1995, Piper Verlag published the work in Germany in 1999 in a new translation by Christina Viragh . The title was based on Michel's translation into French, who published the work as Les Braises ( Eng . "The Gluten"), and titled the new translation with Die Glut . The new edition was a financial success for Piper Verlag. 200,000 copies were sold within one year.
Film adaptations and radio play
The book was filmed twice: in 1967 in the Federal Republic of Germany under the direction Korbinian Köberles as a 40-minute television film with the title Asche und Glut and in 2006 in Hungary as a direct-to-DVD film under the direction of István Iglódis .
Directed by Walter Adler , a radio play version of Die Glut was created in a co-production by SR , HR and RB in 2000 , with Thomas Holtzmann , Rolf Boysen , Michael König , Doris Schade , Susanne Lothar , Heinrich Giskes , Walter Renneisen , Peter Fitz , Hans Peter Hallwachs , Philipp Schepmann and Timo Glosemeyer participated.
theatre
On October 16, 2002, the German-language premiere took place in a version by Knut Boeser at the Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf , directed by Ingo Brux with Ernst Alisch and Peter Harting (stage: Gerhard Benz, costume: Elisabeth Strauss). Christopher Hampton adapted the novel in English for the stage. This version premiered in London in 2006. On December 4, 2009, the German-language performance of this version took place at the Schauspielhaus Graz with Helmuth Lohner in the role of Henrik, which was also performed in the Theater in der Josefstadt from April 2010 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Sándor Márai: The embers . 3. Edition. Piper, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-492-23313-9 , pp. 214 .
- ^ Text on the back cover of Heaven and Earth , ISBN 978-3492237147
- ↑ Asche und Glut (1967) in the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ A gyertyák csonkig égnek (2006) at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ Pitt Hermann: Die Glut ( Memento from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Sunday News, accessed on April 20, 2012
- ^ Press comments on Die Glut ( Memento from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Schauspielhaus Graz, accessed on April 20, 2012
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from August 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive )