Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1979. január-június (33. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)

1979-06-21 / 25. szám

Thursday, June 21. 1979.

“The Tragedy of Man”

Emery Madach’s The Tragedy of Man is the outstanding dramatic masterpiece of Himgarian literature. In effect it is a panorama of human history in 15 scenes representing the advance of civilization. In every one of them Man struggles against overwhelming odds, only to fall in the end.- Yet, the final message remains “Man, keep struggling! ” Which in effect agrees with Marx’s summing up of the meaning, of all history: “STRUGGLE”./Marx’s interview with Jihn Swinton in Brighton, England, in 1880./ Herein below we present a scene from the great masterpiece which has been translated into 19 languages.

SPACE Scene XIII.

In the distance is seen a segment of the Earth, di minishing in size until it only appears as a star, and mingles with the others. The scene begins in semi-darkness which slowly changes to complete darkness. Adam as an aged man with Lucifer flying.

Adam

Far speed we on wild wings. Wither our flight?

Lucifer

Didst thou not yearn to free thee from the dross And soar to higher spheres, whence, thou didst say: The voice of spirits kindred came to thee?

Adam

Thou speakest truth, but never deemed I then The way would be so long and desolate.

So empty stretches space, so cold and still,

As though ’twere sacrilege to enter there.

Within my heart two warring feelings strive,

I feel the littleness of Earth, that bound My soul in fetters; yea, from thence I flee —

Yet do I yearn for that which I have left.

Ah, Lucifer, look back upon our Earth;

First did the flowers vanish from our sight,

And then the swaying branches of the woods;

The well known landscape, with its pleasant haunts Merged fast into a flat plain, featureless,

And every landmark faded and grew dim.

Then dwindled mighty rocks to clods of earth,

The cloud that lightning veils and thunder’s roar — The voice of God to them which dwell below —

We saw as vapour driven by the wind.

The boundless ocean’s ever surging waves,

Where are they now? A shadow on the globe That turns and mingles with a thousand stars.

And yet that Earth was all the world for us.

0 Lucifer, and she, and she is there!

Must she abide upon it, far from us?

Lucifer

So high are we now risen; from the sight First fades the beautiful, and then the great And mighty, till at length nought else remains To us than mathematics, cold, remote.

Adam

Now fade the stars behind us as we fly,

1 see no end, I feel no obstacle;

Without love, without conflict, what is life!

Here all is cold and terror, Lucifer.

Lucifer

If thus far only hast thou heart to go,

Then turn we back and play amid the dust.

Adam

Who speaketh of return? On, ever on!

.-AMERIKA! MAGYAR SZOPain but endureth till the final bond Be broken that yet binds us to the Earth.

What meaneth this? I cannot freely breathe,

My senses grow confused, strength faileth me.

Was more than myth Anteus who alone Might live when on the earth his feet were set?

The Voice of the Spirit of the Earth

Yea, more than myth this tale of ancient years.^r Now knowest thou the Spirit of the Earth!

I only am the breath within thy mouth;

Here lies the bound; so far my realm doth reach. Return and live; press on and be destroyed,

Like to a tiny threadworm that doth swim Within a drop of water; yea, for thee This tiny drop of water is the Earth.

Adam

I thee defy; thou threatenest in vain.

My body may be thine, my soul is mine!

The thought, the truth are infinite, and were Before thy world of matter came to be.

The Voice of the Spirit of the Earth

Vain man, make trial! Dread shall be thy fall! Breathed yet a fragrance ere the roses blew?

Came form ere body, ray before the sun?

If thou couldst see thy soul left desolate.

Circling through cold, immeasurable space, Seeking in vain for meaning and for form Which might express it in an alien world;

Feeling nought there, and comprehending nought Thou wouldest feel the terror. Knowest thou,

All thought, all feeling that within thee dwell,

Are but the radiance of that self-same mass Of matter thou art wont to name the Earth,

If it were else, it could no more exist,

And thou couldst, with the Earth, exist no more. •Thy fair and foul, thy heaven and thy hell Thou dost but from my spirit take to thee;

That spirit breathing in thy little sphere.

Ah, what is here an everlasting truth May be undreamt of in another world;

The here impossible, be natural there;

Weight not exist, life rest immovable.

What here is air may there, perchance, be thought; What here is light, there, peradventure, sound; What here be growing, be a crystal there.

Adam

Thou shalt not daunt me; on doth press my soul!

The Voice of the Spirit of the Earth

Adam, Adam, the final moment nears!

Return; great, on the Earth, thou mayest be, While if thou pass beyond the Universe,

God will not suffer thine approach to Him And thou shalt be defeated and laid low.

Adam

Shall death not come anon to lay me low?

The Voice of the Spirit of the Earth

This vain word of the ancient lie speak not;

Speak not this word here in the spirit world.

All nature would in horror shrinkthereat.

A secret ’tis whereof the seal doth guard The Lord Himself: the Apple of the Tree Of Knowledge could itself not break that seal!

Adam

Yet will I break the seahr /

They continue their flight. Adam utters a cry and becomes rigid.

This is my end!

Lucifer laughing

So, the’ancient lie prevailed!

As he thrusts Adam away from him

Now may this puppet deity revolve In space, like to a planet new, whereon Life may arise perchance once more for me.

The Voice of the Spirit of the Earth

Too soon thine exultation, Lucifer!

He did but touch in flight this alien world;

‘Tis not so easy from my realm to pass!

Thy home doth call thee! Son of Earth, revive!

Adam recovering consciousness

I live once more. I feel it by my pain.

But yet the suffering is sweet to me.

To perish, to be nothing, doth appal.

Lucifer, lead me to my Earth again,

Where I have fought so many fights in vain,

That I may fight anew and happy be.

Lucifer

So many trials, and thou thinkest yet Thy conflict new shall not prove profitless;

And thou shalt reach the goal? In very truth Such childish folly could be man’s alone.

Adam

Such idle dreams Mure me now no more.

The goal, I know I shall not reach, although A hundred times to gain it I should strive.

It matters nothing. And what is the goal?

It is the ceasing of a worthy fight,

The goal is death, the battle is the life.

The fight itself the goal that man doth seek.

(cont. p. 9. )

8,