Mészáros Tibor (szerk.): Once I lived, I, Sándor Márai. Patterns from a globetrotting Hungarian's life (Budapest, 2004)
Márai's secret
And then on one day, after two decades of waiting, the incubation period came to an end, and it was as if l was compelled to write it. There is no way to speed this fermentation period. No writer could start writing a single day before the appointed time. He can only start when the theme is completely ripe. People need nine months to become ready for the world. Elephants need a year and a half, and a book can demand twenty or forty years. There is no need to hurry it; it is not even possible. It is necessary to wait, to watch. The book happens to us." Marínéba d'Alessandro, Márai's Italian translator said after reading Casanova in Bolzano, that this was the very best of all the Central European Casanova novels she had read. Here is an opportunity for English readers to try out Márai once again, to discover for themselves a work that Márai considered most important. To conclude, let us take a look at a pearl of Márai's, the essay On masterpieces, which brings us closer to an understanding of Márai's magic. For a creation of the human spirit to succeed as a masterpiece, for its timeless glory to enthrall, you need more than talent, a subject and perfection of execution. There is a kind of magical element in a masterpiece, something which radiates wonderful light over the entire work, tenderly and expressively, improbably but nonetheless brilliantly, because it is still possible to read despite it. A masterpiece should ring true, it should be accurate, clever, considered, proportioned, finely wrought, faithfully executed - but still you need something else. It should be magical. And though it must be deliberate, it must also lack self-awareness. It should be constructed like a feat of engineering, but there must also be chaos, a teaspoon of fog scattering pinpoints of light among the stars. Without this magic works can only be "great" or "perfect". A real masterpiece is not necessarily perfect. It just radiates, like a dream. And part of this task, when the writer can do no more, belongs to God, who applies the final strokes. God provides the magic. Tibor Mészáros Laying out & picture editor: György T. Nagy - ARTEMISION Budapest, Hungary Printed by: NALORS GRAFIKA Ltd. Director: Gábor Szabó Vác, Hungary
