The novel of which I treat in my first collaboration is, my humble opinion, one of the most intense born from the imagination of its author, Sándor Márai (1900 - 1989). Not surprisingly, it was in 1998, the first chosen by the publisher Adelphi (with his usual commendable foresight) to discover this writer to the Italian public. The life of Mara, well described in the essay by the curator Volume Marinella D'Alessandro, placed at the end of the novel, reflecting the turbulent events of the past century and at the same time the personal hardships that are common to many contemporaries. This is also why, in addition to his writings and for his wonderful prose, which must be considered among the most important writers of the twentieth century Europe, akin to other large and were famous for a certain period of their life to end up relegated to the margins from political upheavals. But we come to the book, The embers . How to introduce it? I feel I can say that it envelops the reader in a web of emotions, making him take the side of one hour and then another player in a vortex, line after line, increases continuous tension and leads to an ending that can not be forgotten. After forty years, two men will meet again in a castle at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains where he lives, alone and in perfect isolation from the world, one of the two, Henrik, a tired old general whose sole purpose for existence is constituted precisely by this meeting , expected and imagined all the time. The other man, Konrad, spent all those decades in the Far East, even though he almost frantically waiting time of return. From the two young men, who met at a military college in the wonderful capital of Vienna, had been inseparable, "like twins in the womb. [...] Their
to micizia was serious and silent, like all great feelings that will last a lifetime. [...] Also realized, from the first moment, that this meeting would have bound them for life. " Finally, after an "exile" of forty years, Konrad returns from the East, to review Vienna, completely changed - like everything in Europe, after two horrible conflict - "Everything that swore loyalty no longer exists "he says at one point. In addition to Vienna, "this house" that Konrad wants to review: refers to the castle of the general, in which the two together also Krisztina, the general's wife, spent much time in the past. Among the old people, involving them in this conversation that after so long - and brings them to discuss everything from the East, the war, but most of their youth and moments relived in detail in their minds, which have before their separation - as appears in the shadow, the ghost of this woman, who, never having betrayed her husband dug a deep furrow between the two friends, who has not yet been closed after more than forty years. This is the secret shared by both, this "force that burns the fabric of life as a malignant radiation, but at the same time gives warmth to life and keeps it in tension," which allowed them to survive in the midst of "peace and war, [...] things miserable and great things, [...] [the] outbreak of fighting and [the] recover cartel 'to meet again and talk, talk, talk for a whole night, between the fireplace burning and the storm raging on the beautiful surrounding countryside, rediscovering "the embers" that brooded in the ashes of their distance.
Everything is designed to reach the final duel, a duel "without swords" between the illusions that the two friends have created on the decisiveness of this their last meeting, and that will prove to be unfounded, especially for Henrik, who sees dissolve his revenge becoming itself an illusion, when the night is done. The charm of the book is also attributed to the wonderful way of writing Mara, whose clear prose, straightforward yet profound, relentless, leaves the reader with no way out and forces him to move forward, until the last line, without the slightest tediarlo: every word is well placed, every sentence takes the reader for its clarity and pages run faster, until the final epilogue. A style that encourages reading and manages to convey both deep reflection on friendship, love, but also on changes in everything from running time and the wars that kill, immersing the reader in a calda, antica ma allo stesso tempo estremamente suggestiva, da cui si rimane indelebilmente colpiti. In conclusione, Le braci lascia in chi lo legge la sensazione di una prosa straordinaria e di una storia avvolgente, come la calda fiamma di un caminetto scoppiettante mentre fuori imperversa il temporale.
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