Books: “Embers” by Sandor Marai
In “Embers,” a 1942 novel by Hungarian author Sandor Marai, Henrik, a retired general, sits in his secluded woodland castle near Vienna, awaiting the arrival of Konrad, a childhood friend he has not seen in 40 years. Their reunion is the focal point of this taut, elegiac novel.
The men met as students at an Austro-Hungarian military school in the late 1880s, and quickly become as inseparable as the heavenly twins Castor and Pollux—despite the vast differences in their upbringings (Henrik, rich and imperious; Konrad, quiet, poor, and musical). This unusually close friendship lasts into adulthood. Konrad introduces Henrik to Krisztina, the woman he eventually marries.
When the three spend a weekend together at Henrik’s estate in 1900, a series of events occur that will shatter the friendship and Henrik’s marriage. Henrik remains in Austria-Hungary and becomes a general in the Great War, while Konrad abandons Vienna and begins a life in Southeast Asia.
The mystery of why the breach happened and what precipitated the meeting is unraveled, bit by bit, as deliciously as a murder mystery. During the reunion, which takes place over the course of a single evening, the men allude to the demise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Henrik speculates that “perhaps this entire way of life which we have known since birth, this house, this dinner, even the words we have used this evening to discuss the questions of our lives, perhaps they all belong to the past.”
For me, “Embers” shares the fin-du-siecle melancholy and the sharpness of Jean Renoir’s 1937 movie “Grande Illusion,” still one of my favorite films. Both emerged at a time when Europe and the whole world were undergoing massive upheaval. Amazingly, you’d never know it from the novel, which seems oblivious to the outside world and instead focuses on the beauty of friendship and the agony of betrayal.
Marai, who was openly antifascist, survived WW II. But he also disliked the Communist regime that seized power in Hungary after the war and left—or was driven away—in 1948. After living for some time in Italy, Márai settled in San Diego, and riddled with liver cancer in later life, committed suicide in 1989.
Fortunately his work lives on. Published in English for the first time in 2000, “Embers” was adapted as a stage play starring Jeremy Irons in 2006 and as an opera in 2015. The book has become popular, it’s been licensed in 18 countries around the world. Welcome developments for those of us who appreciate great storytelling. Enjoy.
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