Author(s): Tibor KOSZTOLÁNCZY

Title: ”THE SWALLOWS ARRIVE HERE FROM ARGENTINA” SÁNDOR MÁRAI’S LAST DECADE IN SAN DIEGO

Source: Sz. Simon (ed.): 12th International Conference of J. Selye University. Language and Literacy Section. Conference Proceedings

ISBN: 978-80-8122-376-1

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36007/3761.2020.125

Publisher: J. Selye University, Komárno, Slovakia

PY, pages: 2020, 125-130

Published on-line: 2020

Language: en

Abstract: The aim of the study is to examine the last decade of Sándor Márai’s life in San Diego in the 1980s. Márai and his wife, Ilona Matzner regarded the city as a safe haven, San Diego was the last station of their wandering through continents. I try to analyze the causes why Márai became disappointed in Europeanness, and what he thought of the fate of East-Central Europe. The seclusion on the shores of the Pacific Ocean helped Márai to forget painful memories, heal his soul, cover the fiascos of his literary career too. Moreover, Márai as an artist found inspiring the ethnically mixed neighbourhoods of San Diego, his last novel took place in the area of the Mexican–American border.

Keywords: Sándor Márai, Radio Free Europe, East-Central Europe, Soviet block, assimilation, ethnic diversity, hot line, San Diego

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