Embers (Vintage International) (edit title)

Frederick A edited the quotations of Embers (Vintage International) 1 day ago.

• Added a quotation: “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”

Shelfari edited the description of Embers (Vintage International) Sunday, August 2 2009.

• Originally published in 1942 and now rediscovered to international acclaim, this taut and exquisitely structured novel by the Hungarian master Sandor Marai conjures the melancholy glamour of a decaying empire and the disillusioned wisdom of its last heirs. In a secluded woodland castle an old General prepares to receive a rare visitor, a man who was once his closest friend but who he has not seen in forty-one years. Over the ensuing hours host and guest will fight a duel of words and silences, accusations and evasions. They will exhume the memory of their friendship and that of the General’s beautiful, long-dead wife. And they will return to the time the three of them last sat together following a hunt in the nearby forest--a hunt in which no game was taken but during which something was lost forever. Embers is a classic of modern European literature, a work whose poignant evocation of the past also seems like a prophetic glimpse into the moral abyss of the present

Shelfari edited the contributors of Embers (Vintage International) Friday, July 24 2009.

• Added a contributor: Carol Brown Janeway: (Primary Author)
• Added a contributor: Sa?ndor Ma?rai: (Primary None)

Shelfari edited the first sentence of Embers (Vintage International) Thursday, July 16 2009.

• In the morning, the old general spent a considerable time in the wine cellars with his winegrower inspecting two casks of wine that had began to ferment.

Kevin denied Justin M’s request to change the contributors of Embers (Vintage International) Tuesday, July 7 2009.

Kevin denied Justin M’s request to change the contributors of Embers (Vintage International) Tuesday, July 7 2009.

Kevin denied Justin M’s request to change the contributors of Embers (Vintage International) Tuesday, July 7 2009.