Embers (1942) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters/People edit see section history

• Henrik: The General and main character of the novel. He's a rich military man who's friendship with Konrad is the entire discussion of the book.
• Konrad: Henrik's best friend from youth.
• Krisztina: Henrik's wife.
• Nini: Henrik's nurse who stays with him throughout his life.
• Veronika: a girl Henrik once dated in his 20s

Quotes edit see section history

• “Nini’s face was rose pink and crumpled—such is the way noble fabrics are, and centuries-old silks that hold woven in their threads the assembled skills and dreams of an entire family. (p12)It was a large stove, at least a century old, and it radiated heat like some indolent corpulent gentleman intent on mitigating his own egoism with as easy act of charity. (p.19)Describing the castle:“It also enclosed memories as it they were the dead, memories that lurked in the damp corners the way mushrooms, bats, rats, and beetle lurk in the mildewed cellars of old houses. Door-latches gave off the traces of a once-trembling hand, the excitement of a moment long gone, so that even now another hand hesitated to press down on them.” (p 25)“And yet Konrad had a refuge which was closed to his friend: Music.” (p. 48)“When he listened to music, he listened with his whole body, as longingly as a condemned man in his cell aches for the sound of distant feet perhaps bringing news of his”

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• Life becomes bearable only when one has come to terms with who one is, both in one’s own eyes and in the eyes of the world.

  Highlighted by 48 Kindle customers

• We have to learn that our desires do not find any real echo in the world. We have to accept that the people we love do not love us, or not in the way we hope. We have to accept betrayal and disloyalty, and, hardest of all, that someone is finer than we are in character or intelligence.

  Highlighted by 37 Kindle customers

• Every exercise of power incorporates a faint, almost imperceptible, element of contempt for those over whom the power is exercised. One can only dominate another human soul if one knows, understands, and with the utmost tact despises the person one is subjugating.

  Highlighted by 31 Kindle customers

• The greatest secret and the greatest gift any of us can be offered is the chance for two ‘similar’ people to meet. It happens so rarely—it must be because nature uses all its force and cunning to prevent such harmony—perhaps it’s that creation and the renewal of life need the tension that is generated between two people of opposite temperaments who seek each other out. Like an alternating current . . . an exchange of energy between positive and negative poles, think of all the despair and the blind hope that lie behind this duality.

  Highlighted by 28 Kindle customers

• Is the idea of fidelity not an appalling egoism and also as vain as most other human concerns? When we demand fidelity, are we wishing for the other person’s happiness? And if that person cannot be happy in the subtle prison of fidelity, do we really prove our love by demanding fidelity nonetheless? And if we do not love that person in a way that makes her happy, do we have the right to expect fidelity or any other sacrifice?

  Highlighted by 26 Kindle customers

• “One day we lose the person we love. Anyone who is unable to sustain that loss fails as a human being and does not deserve our sympathy.”

  Highlighted by 24 Kindle customers

• Self-respect is the irreplaceable foundation of our humanity; wound it, and the hurt, the damage, is so scalding that not even death can ease the torture. Vanity, you say. Yes, vanity . . . and yet self-respect is what gives a person his or her intrinsic value. That is why I so feared this secret, that is why people accept the compromises they do, even cheap and cowardly ones.

  Highlighted by 21 Kindle customers

• And yet, sometimes facts are no more than pitiful consequences, because guilt does not reside in our acts but in the intentions that give rise to our acts. Everything turns on our intentions.

  Highlighted by 21 Kindle customers

• Konrad’s music, on the other hand, didn’t offer forgetfulness; it aroused people to feelings of passion and guilt, and demanded that people be truer to themselves in heart and mind.

  Highlighted by 19 Kindle customers

• Friendship, I thought—and you who have seen the world certainly know this better than I do alone here in my village—is the noblest relationship that can exist between human beings. And it is interesting that it also exists among animals. Animals are capable of friendship, selflessness, and the desire to help others.

  Highlighted by 14 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Vienna
• London
• Paris
• Singapore

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by The Glass Bead Game, and followed by Go Down, Moses.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Sandor Marai (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Carol Brown Janeway (Translator)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 894.511334

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary

Movie Connections edit see section history

• A gyertyák csonkig égnek (2006) (IMDb): The Hungarian adaptation directed by István Iglódi. The title is the same as the original novel's title - "A gyertyák csonkig égnek" (The Candles Burn Down to the Stump).