The Tragedy of Man book review: Days of Future Past

My review of Imre Madach's immensely imaginative and amazingly ambitious (and unfortunately unknown) closet drama, The Tragedy of Man, which follows a newly fallen Adam and Eve as they are taken on a sweeping existential odyssey by the Devil himself through a series of visions depicting human history to come, and have to grapple with the burning question: is it even worth it to carry on?
#thetragedyofman #imremadach #hungary #hungarianliterature #books #literature #worldliterature #plays #drama #theatre #theater #masterpiece #greatbooks #booktube #bookreview #bookrecommendations

[@SmallSpaceCorgi]

I haven't read it, but it's something I'd heard about as a major Hungarian work-- and as a reaction to the failures of the Hungarian revolution of 1848-49. Now I do have to find a copy-- meaning having Interlibrary Loan track one down for me. (Maybe there was a new translation in the 1980s or early '90s-- maybe). Oh...Hungarian lit... I'll recommend Odon von Horvath's 1930s gothic/political works, Giza Csath's short story collection "Opium", and Miklos Banff'y's "Transylvanian Trilogy" (it's in an Everyman edition), which is...wait for it...basically a kind of Hungarian Faulkner. Also, as a modern ltake on 'Paradise Lost', John Collier's "Paradise Lost: A Screenplay for a Cinema of the Mind" (1973, I think) which would be unfilmable, but still brilliant.

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

I'd definitely be interested in exploring Hungarian literature further. This was exquisite! :D

[@someobserver844]

​@@TH3F4LC0Nx Geza Csath in particular should be interesting to you, he's one of the horror/weird fiction adjacent central european modernists.

[@colonelweird]

I haven't read it, but after watching this video I'm definitely interested. However it's not THAT obscure. A modern English translation by George Szirtes has been reprinted many times since it was published in 1988 -- new copies are expensive, but if you dig, you can find older printings very cheaply. There are also a couple of other modern translations that seem to be long out-of-print. And it was adapted to film twice -- a version by the great Hungarian animator Marcell Jankovics is available on youtube. The other film version is called The Annunciation, but at first glance it seems to be more difficult to find. In any case, thanks for the recommendation!

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

Oh, well shoot, maybe I oversold the obscurity a bit, unintentionally. XD But yeah, the film is, according to Wikipedia at least, like the longest or one of the longest animated films ever made. I didn't know it was available on KZbin though; thanks for letting me know! :D

[@williamgass9242]

If you can't find it easily or inexpensively, then it's obscure.

[@RandomDinius]

Highly recommend the animated epic aswell. To You and anybody really who read the poem, or if this topic comes around. Marcel Jankovics really made a Masterpiece 2.0. It's here on youtube at the moment, if someone is interested.

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

Oh I'm definitely interested! :D Highly intrigued to see how this story plays out visually.

[@someobserver844]

Interesting, I'm going to check this out. I looked it up: this work is apparently fairly well known throughout central europe; there even have been stagings in Germany, Poland, and Czechia. There's a german translation that's still in print, fortunately.

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

I can only imagine that this would be a monumental effort to stage. XD

[@someobserver844]

@@TH3F4LC0Nx In 2000, there was a complete staging of Faust that took 21 hours in total. I actually do like the play, even the second part; but I cannot not imagine sitting through that, lol.

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

@@someobserver844 I sure hope they had some intermissions in there! XD

[@someobserver844]

@@TH3F4LC0Nx The first part took eight hours, the second, which they staged on the consecutive day from what I could gather, twelve. That's pretty brutal on both the audience and the performers, even with intermissions.

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

@@someobserver844 Damn. :o Well, they were definitely committed, I'll say that. XD

[@Catholic-Perennialist]

This is off topic, but what's the story behind the unfortunate profile pic?

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

Not sure. It's an image depicting the ravages of advanced syphilis, but that's all I know. I just use it because it catches the eye.

[@Catholic-Perennialist]

@@TH3F4LC0Nx Gotcha. I thought it was some horrific Civil War battlefield injury. Thanks

[@mehwhatever9726]

If creator designs you to be corruptable by your own desires, which he deliberately puts into your nature. That is all your fault, of course, definitely not his fuckup. ;-P And it's totally not him that created all evil... Though he's the only one who created everything. Back in the days dualism did a pretty good job at justifying this, but as we know, dualism didn't take off, likely because it wasn't extreme/absolutist/violent enough.

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

Yeah lol, the Genesis creation/fall story is certainly...questionable. Although I think it's also quite fascinating in the dialogues it can provoke and the different perspectives people can have on it. :)