"Egyszóval felfedeztem, hogy az írás mágia. Mi a mágia? Hát igézet, varázslat. Keverék szóból, álomból, érzésből, bűvös jegyek egyvelege, melynek visszaható ereje van az életre, éppen úgy, ahogy az életnek szóalkotó ereje is van."
Sándor Márai (originally Sándor Károly Henrik Grosschmied de Mára) was a Hungarian writer and journalist. He was born in the city of Kassa in Austria-Hungary (now Košice in Slovakia) to an old family of Saxon origin who had mixed with magyars through the centuries. Through his father he was a relative of the Ország-family. In his early years, Márai travelled to and lived in Frankfurt, Berlin, and Paris and briefly considered writing in German, but eventually chose his mother language, Hungarian, for his writings. He settled in Krisztinaváros, Budapest, in 1928. In the 1930s, he gained prominence with a precise and clear realist style. He was the first person to write reviews of the work of Kafka. He wrote very enthusiastically about the Vienna Awards, in which Germany forced Czechoslovakia and Romania to give back part of the territories which Hungary lost in the Treaty of Trianon. Nevertheless, Márai was highly critical of the Nazis as such and was considered "profoundly antifascist," a dangerous position to take in wartime Hungary. Marai authored forty-six books, mostly novels, and was considered by literary critics to be one of Hungary's most influential representatives of middle class literature between the two world wars. His 1942 book Embers (Hungarian title: A gyertyák csonkig égnek, meaning "The Candles Burn Down to the Stump") expresses a nostalgia for the bygone multi-ethnic, multicultural society of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, reminiscent of the works of Joseph Roth. In 2006 an adaptation of this novel for the stage, written by Christopher Hampton, was performed in London. He also disliked the Communist regime that seized power after World War II, and left – or was driven away – in 1948. After living for some time in Italy, Márai settled in the city of San Diego, California, in the United States. He continued to write in his native language, but was not published in English until the mid-1990s. Márai's Memoir of Hungary (1944-1948) provides an interesting glimpse of post World War II Hungary under Soviet occupation. Like other memoirs by Hungarian writers and statesmen, it was first published in the West, because it could not be published in the Hungary of the post-1956 Kádár era. The English version of the memoir was published posthumously in 1996. After his wife died, Márai retreated more and more into isolation. He committed suicide by a gunshot to his head in San Diego in 1989. Largely forgotten outside of Hungary, his work (consisting of poems, novels, and diaries) has only been recently "rediscovered" and republished in French (starting in 1992), Polish, Catalan, Italian, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Danish, Icelandic, Korean, Dutch, and other languages too, and is now considered to be part of the European Twentieth Century literary canon.
Tiny book full of short stories.... haven't realized it's this type of book, personally not biggest fan of short stories, like when the stories goes on and on and bit more :-) But have to give credit to Sandor as everyone of his stories could be start of longer story and honestly would gladly read it. Author almost perfecionistically described characters and their feelings and actions. Each story has clear outline and is easy to read usually split to few shorter parts. Enjoyable read but still would wish it's one longer story with many characters then many stories not connected by link. If we don't take as link magic of the author who pulls them out ofouter world to this one and give them some sense.
Végtelenül szórakoztató, kedves rövid történetek gyűjteménye. Rácsodálkozás a világra, jelenetek, amiket az ember egy padon ülve vagy a kávézóban megtapasztalhat, mégis igen nagy odafigyelésről, részletgazdagságról tanúskodnak a szövegek. A szereplők hol névtelenek, hol nevesítettek, de néha csak az időjárásról szól egy panasz, olyan hétköznapi témák, amiket gyermekkoromban a nagyszülői házban hallgattam a reggeli kakaóm mellett a teraszon, ahol a leanderillat keveredett a kotyogós kávé erős szagával. Semmi világmegváltás, semmit nagy lélegzetvételű prófécia. Hétköznapok, hol melankolikus, hol mosolyra fakasztó, hol kuncogással teljes képeskönyv.
Autor próbuje opisywać nieuchwytne emocje, jak nie dającą się wytłumaczyć nostalgię czy przeczucia. Opowiadania mają odpowiednią długość. W sam raz do poczytania jednego czy dwóch na dzień – ciągiem raczej nie ma sensu.