(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
One can imagine the romantic title "Glor" positively charged; a warm and bright center that devours throughout the evening, but where the afterglow reminds of the beauty that once was. One can also think of it negatively; if you play with the fire you can be burned. The flame that was once keeps the memory of the accident that occurred. Or neutral; as a matter of fact. Wood cubes turn into coals after a while.
All these meanings, both individually and collectively, it is possible to read into the action of the Hungarian author Sándor Márai in the chamber play "Glör". We will enter the novel in the present. The general, who lives alone on the estate after his wife Krisztina died, has received a letter he has been waiting for for 41 years and 43 days. His childhood friend Konrad comes to visit. The friendship was in its time of the all-consuming kind. But something went wrong. What?
We may never know, but the general's family is rich. Konrad is the gifted poor boy who refuses to accept alms from his peers. The General has spent 41 trapped years on the estate thinking about what went wrong. Each thought has bred new riddles. Still, the general is left with two key questions, which he expects his old friend to answer. One reads like, "Answer me, are you kind: did Krisztina know that you would kill me that morning, while hunting?".
Sándor Márai was born a hundred years ago in the city of Kassa in today's Slovakia. In the 1920 century, he lived in exile in France and Germany for a period of time, while emigrating to the United States for good upon the Communist takeover of 1948. His writing is extensive, but was banned and forgotten in his homeland until the fall of the Wall, at about the same time as he committed suicide in San Diego. "Glör" was first published in 1941 (or 1942, both volumes are given in the book) and is, in its own words, the novel Márai liked least. He thought it was too romantic. And admittedly; the novel must be said to belong to the expressive kind, in several senses. Somewhere in the novel, the general says that it is only in the details that one can reveal the essentials, and Márai spends a lot of time lingering in the surroundings around the central episodes of the story. This of course helps to cast light and dark shadows over the events, but at the same time helps to endure the time for the sake of excitement. And "Embers" is paradoxically an exciting book, despite the fact that nothing happens except that two old friends spend a night talking about the past. The romantic is not least expressed in the general, who for a long time conducts one-way monologue throughout the night. Emotions and thoughts – anger and hatred – have been contained for 41 years. His best friend betrayed him. His best friend was close to killing him, and his best friend had a relationship with his wife. Why? We will never know. The general is only interested in knowing if his wife knew anything about the amputated assassination attempt.
After 41 years, one would think the friend was ready to reveal the details, but no… Konrad will not answer.
Judging by the superficial action, the novel is most reminiscent of a banal soap series, but the comparison does not do justice to Sándor Márai. The General has thought a lot, and it is in the thoughts, pictures and wordings about betrayal, friendship, love and fate the novel's strength lies. "It is not true that fate comes blindly into our lives, no. Fate comes in through the door that we keep open, and we let fate in front of us ”. In another quote we can find noe of the explanation of why the best friend wanted to take the general's life, and again a pointer to the meaning of the title and the complexity of the friendship: «In reality it was as if you had hated me for twenty-two years, with a passion whose temperature can only resemble the embers of great connections – yes, love. You hated me, and when a feeling, a passion completely fills a person's soul, smokes and also glows revenge under such a fire next to the excitement (…) You hated me, and this is as strong a bond as if you had loved me . Why did you hate me? '
It is the general who has been deceived and it is the general who has reason to feel bitterness, yet the reader gains a growing understanding and sympathy for the best friend's behavior. The general's friendship was far from selfish as his monologue. In childhood he could share in family food, but in youth and early adulthood he more and more often chooses the joys of social life over the companion's spartan alternative. The General has a choice; Konrad does not have this without further compromise. Wealth, military careers and young people's lives can never be a natural part of Konrad's introverted life. He travels to London and the East.
Novelist, playwright, essayist and journalist – and cosmopolitan – Sándor Márai undoubtedly belongs among Europe's foremost early modernists, and in the last ten years the authorship has been recognized as one of the best Hungary can offer, also by the homeland itself. It seems to be a deserved and well-suited gift for the author's centenary, which has obviously also benefited Norwegian readers.
Sándor Márai: "Glory". Novel, 176 pages. Solum 2000. Translated by Kari Kemény
