A good way of getting to know a city, without resorting to guide books, is to read a fictional novel that’s set there. Another way, is to find someone famous who was born there and then following their story. Banksy in Bristol is a good example of this. And in Košice recently, Sándor Márai provided another ready-made treasure hunt.
Somewhat famous for being the first person to write reviews of Kafka’s work, Márai is probably better known for his 1948 novel, Embers, which published in English in 2000. It’s original Hungarian title is more fetching I think… A gyertyák csonkig égnek (candles burn until the end). It’s about an old general and his friend from the military academy who reunite over dinner after 41 years of not seeing each other.
In 2006, Jeremy Irons and Patrick Malahide played the stage version in the Duke of York in London. [Irons hadn’t been on stage in 18 years and his return was eagerly anticipated.] Its original run was extended by four weeks due to popular demand but the critics’ reviews were mixed. Christopher Hampton’s stage adaptation of the novel was billed as one that explores ‘the eroticism of male friendship’. I’ve had the book on my shelf for years and have yet to open it.
Fascinating, isn’t it, how someone who has once found fame in their native language can, nearly half a century later, be famous all over again in another. And even more fascinating is the thought of all the books out there still to be translated into English. [I have my favourites of those that have been.]
Anyway, as I said, Márai’s years in his home town left a trail to follow and explore. From his birthplace on Bočná st to his studio in the old Thália Theatre, a lovely old frescoed building, to Maleter’s House whence he kidnapped his bride-to-be, the lovely Lola. Or the confectionary where he first met Lola during an ice-cream competition (am not sure if they were eating it or making it). Then there’s the Premonstratensians School he attended and the family home where the commemorative room is now housed.
I had to Google Premonstratensians. They’re known in Ireland as the White Canons (a new one on me) and are what’s called Canons Regular (another new one) – monks who live in the community under the order of St Augustine. Why didn’t I know that? But even more interestingly, they actually work for a living:
they’ve created and operate small industrial activities such as printing (Averbode, Tongerlo, Berne), farming (Kinshasa, Ireland, Postel), cheese-making (Postel), running schools (Averbode, Berne, USA, Australia), agreements with breweries (Tongerlo, Postel, Park, Leffe, Grimbergen), retreat centres (nearly everywhere), astronomical observatories (Mira, Grimbergen), artistic bookbinding (Oosterhout), forestry (Schlägl, Geras, Slovakia) and pilgrimages (Conques).
That’s a change.
And as we wandered looking for these landmarks, we saw the wealth of architecture the city has to offer. There really is a surprise around every corner. And the added attraction is that it’s all walkable.
What is a tad peculiar though, is the tram line on the main street. No longer in use, it creates a certain expectation that something might be coming at any minute. There’s a watchfulness about the place, a sense of anticipation, that feeling that just about anything could happen. Magical.
One of the many fanciful notions I have is that inside every statue is a real person, trapped for eternity in whatever position their maker has chosen for them. I’ve spent way too much time thinking about how I’d like to be immortalised in bronze. The idea of a full-sized me in a full-sized bed reading a full-sized book was high on my list for a while, but given that my back has been acting up lately, even that comfortable notion isn’t as attractive as it once was.
I quite like the relatively recent (2004) sculpture of Márai that is tucked away on a quiet square on the corner of Zbrojničná and Mäsiarska. It’s of him sitting on a chair, legs crossed, as if in conversation with whomever chooses to sit in the empty chair opposite him. It doesn’t look the most comfortable of poses, but think of the great conversations you could have with him, the best of listeners; thinking of all the confessions he must have heard, a little like Jozef Attila in Budapest. Anyway, it’s been filed as an option. But first, I need to do something that will give the world reason to cast me in bronze and plonk me somewhere for eternity.
2 responses
You just wrote a poem, what more excuse do you want !!