Csongor es Tunde (Csongor and Tunde): The quest: a fairytale play in verse

Original Hungarian side-by-side the English translation by Peter Zollman.

Foremost 19th century Hungarian drama, by Mih ly V r smarty. Long out of print, now made available again by Sarkett & Associates, Inc. Includes color illustrations.

Csongor s T nde is considered by critics the foremost 19th century Hungarian drama but is virtually unknown in the West. Likened to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, its theme is universal: man's quest for happiness and fulfillment.

Many consider this symbolist drama to be remarkably ahead of its time.

A cultural treasure to Hungarians, V r smarty's tale has inspired others. Noted composer Leo Weiner (1885-1960) wrote ballet music for Csongor s T nde, considered by some his magnum opus.

Excerpt on this work from the Oxford History of Hungarian Literature, Lorant Czigany:

"In the second period of V r smarty's creative career, the place of the epic was taken over by the drama. He had experimented with plays ever since 1820 when he first became acquainted with Shakespeare, but his youthful efforts show only the author's lack of experience. In 1831, however, he succeeded in creating a masterpiece, Csongor s T nde (Csongor and Tunde), which surpasses all the dramas that he wrote before or after it. In fact, his reputation as a playwright rests solely on this light-hearted piece. Csongor and T nde is regarded by many of his critics as the climax of his poetic achievement.

"Basing his plot on a sixteenth-century sz phist ria, the rgirus romance, and probably influenced in his treatment of the subject by Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, V r smarty sets out to explore the possible answers to the questions: Are human beings capable of achieving happiness? Is there a kind of happiness that completely satisfies man? The answer V r smarty gives to the ageless question wrapped in the glittering fairy-tale is straightforward: the sole source of human happiness can only be reciprocated love.

"As a philosophy about the meaning of life, V r smarty's answer is sincere and devoid of pretensions and, even more remarkable, it ignores the Christian tradition of 'higher' aims or of spiritual compensation in the other world; thus it is a worldly and pagan, if not hedonistic, philosophy."

Early readers say:

"A great service for Hungarian literature to make this seminal work available to the English reading public."

"Wonderful ... V r smarty's language is so rich, so beautiful, perhaps the most ornamental among all Hungarian poets. I love him deeply."

Students of Hungarian history and culture will likely also be interested in our other classic republication: Stephen Sz chenyi and the Awakening of Hungarian Nationalism, 1791-1841 by Dr. George Barany, published by Sarkett & Associates, Inc. (2011), also on Amazon.