Bereczky Erzsébet (szerk.): Imre Madách: The Tragedy of Man. Essays about the ideas and the directing of the Drama (Budapest, 1985)
dr. Ferenc Kerényi: A Dramatic Poem from Hungary to the Theaters of the World
times in the theatre bearing the poet’s name and in the National Theatre the jubilee gala performance of the Tragedy, directed by László Vámos, was the 1301st in that theatre. In the same season two additional Hungarian cities (Zalaegerszeg and Miskolc had in their programs Madách’s dramatic poem. Two events attest to the fact that this celebration was not limited to the Hungarian theatre. In the early months of the year 1983 the news reached Hungary that The Tragedy of Man had been translated into the Fulani language. This represents the twenty ninth language and the first African language into which the poem has been translated, making it available to an audience of a completely different cultural past, system of traditions and poetic world. Alas, a few days after the jubilee celebration in Hungary, on October 6, 1983, the play opened in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt. Both these events confirm that newer and broader horizons are still opening up for Imre Madách and his Tragedy of Man both in the literature and the theatres of the world. Sándor Hevesi once said about the Tragedy: „Madách’s poem serves as a Bible for the National Theatre, which we still never cease to study, from which we shall never cease to learn and which we will never learn completely.” The one-hundred-year history of The Tragedy of Man in Hungarian dramatic art and its ninety-year history on the world theatrical scene have proved — and continue to prove the truth of his words. So it be. (1984) 33
