World-known Sándor Márai and his Košice

WANDERINGS AROUND KOŠICE THIS WEEKEND

If you intend to learn about living in Košice 100 years ago served in a literary fashion, choose and read Zpověď [Confession], the book by Sándor Márai.

Sándor Márai (1900–1989), now already a world-known writer, was born in a house, which does not exist any longer. The shopping centre Dargov was erected is the place where the house used to be situated. For some of his teenage years Sándor Márai lived in the house at No. 35 in the Mäsiarska Street. He attended Premonstratesian secondary schools in Košice, Prešov and Budapest. He did not complete university in Budapest so he kept studying on and on in Prague, Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris to end up in America. After coming of age, he would only return to Košice on vacations. Beside Hungarian, his mother tongue, he could speak German and French very well and English and Italian as necessary. After the Munich Agreement, he turned up in Košice once more and spent three days here looking for answers to his numerous questions. His discoveries are available to learn through the Wanderings around Košice.

After the WWII, it was becoming obvious to Márai that he and communism would never make friends. The wiser gives in, they say, so Márai left the country. Before he took his own life he had lived in exile for 40 years. The occupation of Hungary by the Soviet army made him so much upset that he put a ban on publishing his books and dramatic pieces in Hungarian (even at the cost of his financial loss), until the Soviet troops would return where they had come from. Therefore, many people in this country have not even heard about Sándor Márai. By contrast, his works have been in great favour outside this country, enjoying many translations and film adaptations.  

Ten years ago, during the 1998 Days of Košice celebration, Dr. János Jáky, Márai´s full nephew came from Budapest to raise Sándor Márai´s profile. At that time they opened Márai´s Memorial Room at the house in the Mäsiarska Street where Márai lived as a child. After having visited the Room you realise that Márai managed to breathe both pain and love into his books for he had good times and saw bad times and yet did not live long enough to see some other things. He (by a hair) did not manage to see the end of communism in Hungary and else where nor the departure of the Soviet occupants. He survived bombing of his house in Budapest (a piece of his original globe hit by a bomb can also be seen in the Mäsiarska museum). He managed with the unfavourable attitude of his future parents-in-law to his love for their Jewish daughter. He also managed without their son who died at the age of two months. Márai, by the way, married his fiancée so that they presented her parents with a fait accompli, and then lived together for 60 years. When, by a stroke of fate, he lost during four of his elderly years his wife, his stepson and three siblings he took up shooting classes as he did not want to spoil his own suicide. His books have survived him though. 

You can run into an inter(attr)active full-sized sculpture of Sándor Márai installed in the Zbrojničná Street in Košice in 2004. Opposite the seated writer another part of the sculpture is placed – a vacant chair attracting the passers-by to take a seat, not only for the absence of other seats within sight. 

Much as they have Antoin de Saint-Exupéry Airport in Lyon, why not name the Košice airport, at least, after the most famous and best-educated 20th century Hungarian writer?

After all, the world-renowned writer was born in Košice and even wrote about Košice. Given that his books have been translated into more than 40 languages and he raised the profile of this town more than any other natives of Košice.

For all that we should be grateful to him and learn interesting things about him, e.g. in the next wandering around Košice. We will go back in time and enter his house where this literary genius spent his childhood 100 years ago. 

Košice is the only place where you can take the advantage of reading some timeless quotations from Márai´s books at the very places which he wrote about.

(The latest book on Márai, released by the City of Košice, is available to obtain at the wandering. Márai´s Studio in the Timonova Street is playing the latest Hungarian film on Márai´s life in exile, with the English subtitles and Slovak scripted translation, on Sunday and Monday, at 6:30 p.m.)

Wandering around Košice is an hour-long conducted tour of Košice organised by the City Information Centre Košice every first weekend in the month. Every tour has a different subject to discuss and a different round to follow. The tour starts outside the State Special Library at No 8. Hlavná Street. Next subject: Sándor Márai and (his) Košice, (this weekend, June 7–8). Saturday tours begins at 10:00, 10:30, 11:30, 13:30, 15:00, 16:30 (Slovak), 14:00 (Hungarian), 16:30 (English and Slovak.)

Sunday tours begin at 14:00, 14:30, 15:30, 17:00 (Slovak), 16:00 (Hungarian.)

Information and booking is available at the offices of the City Information Centre at Shopping Centre Dargov, Department Store TESCO and Bus Station. Tel.: 055-16 186, www.potulka.sk

Other subjects:
Secrets of Alžbetina Street (June 28-29) – attended by Pavel Dvořák, historian
Ghosts and Legends of Košice (August 2-3)
State Theatre (September 6-7)