Comment

Mar 11, 2016
A simple run-through of the plot: A retired general from the army, Henrik, awaits an old friend he hasn’t seen in 41 years. They have dinner and Henrik talks all evening about their relationship. As dawn approaches, Henrik asks his friend Konrad two questions (OK, he cheats and asks several more) which Konrad declines to answer. Konrad leaves. The key, though, isn’t the plot (which barely exists) but how it is revealed. There are many topics explored in this brief book. Márai spends plenty of time allowing Henrik to muse about friendship. After all, Henrik has thought about their friendship during his forty-one years of semi-solitude and delivers a brilliant (if somewhat artificial feeling) monologue on the topic. More importantly though is how friendship and other matters of loyalty and duty interact with desire and passion. The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire lies as a backdrop for a story of friends and loves, representing more than just a country’s end. There’s much more discussed in these pages, such as the relationships between facts and truth, action and reflection, logic and emotion, and belonging and mastering. Márai unveils the story much like a musical piece, motifs reappearing every now and then, alternating fast and slow passages, etc. And yet…I walk away from the book not fully satisfied. Don’t get me wrong—it’s just that some things feel too staged. At times I thought this would make a better play, and evidently, judging from the reviews of just such an adaption, theater critics thought it worked better as a novel. But there are other moments when the symbolism or the monologue seems too forced, such as when Henrik doesn’t allow Konrad to answer his first question, rattling on for several more pages. Even with some reservations I still recommend the book and I look forward to reading more from Márai.