Novel
Embers
A gyertyák csonkig égnek
Sándor Márai · 1942
Synopsis
An old castle at the foot of the Carpathians, in August 1940. Henrik, a retired general, learns that Konrád, the friend of his youth whom he has not seen for forty-one years, is passing through the neighbouring town, and invites him to dinner. He has Nini, his old nurse, reopen the closed wing of the castle, and the table laid as at their last meal together. He relives their youth: the military school in Vienna, the friendship between the son of a wealthy family and the poor Polish cadet, in love with music. Konrád arrives at eight o'clock; a storm cuts the electricity, and the two men carry on by candlelight.
Context
The novel first appeared as a serial in the magazine Új Idők, from July to September 1942, then in book form with Révai the same year. It takes place almost entirely over a single meal and consists essentially of the general's long monologue, facing a guest who stays silent. Forgotten outside Hungary, it was taken up in France by Albin Michel in 1995, then in Italy by Adelphi in 1998, and became an international success; Christopher Hampton made a play of it, staged in London in 2006 with Jeremy Irons.
Who it is for
A short novel that reads like a long night-time conversation; translated into French and English.
Prizes and reception
Translated into some sixty languages, it is one of the best-known and most widely read books by its author.