A Madách Színház (The Madách Theater) presents:

The Two One and Onlys - The Great Loves of Frigyes Karinthy

A két egyetlen - Karinthy Frigyes nagy szerelmei

Screenwriter: Zoltán FRÁTER

Director: Tamás SZIRTES

English translation: John Batki

Video drama broadcast 25-27 June 2022

Transcription of English translations of Karinthy’s recited verses

[Frigyes Karinthy’s poem for Judik Etel, his dead first wife] Spring and summer bring fruit for the living And they enjoy the winter’s wine — But now I see what the dead live on: They must survive on tears. She lies deep in her grave, Without winter or summer: With yellow face and sunken eyes She lies there waiting for tears Just lies there and waits Without thanks or blame, she cannot give, or take, Needs neither sun, nor moon. No memory, no hope, nor faraway land. How happy I was at the century’s turn Even though I was poor and alone But a rare hope and thrill was in the air We were getting ready, awaiting some Surprise Something never seen before ... [“Prologue”] Since I can not tell anyone, I will tell everyone Since I can not tell anyone, I will tell, would like to tell, But my hand halts and my tongue fails. I would tell where our road leads, Help me, give me your hand please. Life me up to see, live, speak, Down here in the mud I cannot speak. I threw away my rattle and have no bell Down here in the mud I have no voice to tell. A foot trod on me, trampled my chest, Raise me up high, as you know best. Among many pulpits I'll find one to lease, Allow me to mount the steps, please. Still don't know what to say, not I, But I guess it's glad tidings, aye! Good news, glad tidings, rainbows and seas For you, my loved ones, mysteries, Waiting for the miracle with wide open eyes. What I can not tell anyone, I will tell everyone. Her memory is long since gone, Souvenirs of her I have none, No photos, letters, or locks of hair, Oh we both hated each other. So I kissed you to show and tell, How I need you to kiss me well. Embraced you, took away your breath, To show you how to hug me to death. I wept and clasped your knees, Because I knew that you heard my pleas, My flood of tears, the easy fees You would pay me for my tears. I abandoned all—so you would understand How you can love another one, For whom you’d give your all, A hundred, a thousand fold. I’m ready to die for your sake, So you’ll live, and not die for my sake, As I believe, for you have shown me. Fear not, don’t hesitate or grieve, You get for free only what you freely give. I said I love you, now say you love me true — That is the lesson I have to teach you, That’s all there is to the secret, But woe to you, in case you forget. Woe to you if this lesson and Rule goes to waste — Never to be born would have been better, Than for us not to love each other. And she lies there waiting, to see if they’ll come, Waiting, she lies there, the dead, Without blame or thanks, she neither gives nor takes, No sun, no moon, does she need. No memories, no hopes, no distant lands, No sun, no moon does she need. An Account of My Talent Remember those convertible sofas, sofa by day, bed at night? Well, I was of those, a unique piece from the factory By day I lie there inviting sleep By night I bounce under the poor weary customer’s pillow Finally what could I do I was desperate to be of use At any cost even if without glory or laurels If you won't have my heart's blood and the brain in my skull Then take my empty skull and this spastic muscle from my chest Collapsed like some bagpipe sans air. . . Here I am, at Abandonment’s Thirty Degrees of Latitude, and Ignominy’s Hundredth Degree of Longitude, and at the Zenith of teeth-grinding Defiance, in a faraway land, And I wonder how much farther I have to go. May a new Flood give old Earth A new spin, a child’s spinning top, And your coffin, a Noah’s Ark, riding the waves. O dead one, my mother, my lover, O my wife, my child, my friend! Alight, and send word when you land, When you have found a new Ararat.

A két egyetlen - Karinthy Frigyes nagy szerelmei [English description]

A Madách Színház - A két egyetlen - Karinthy Frigyes nagy szerelmei trailer

The Madach Theater

Liszt Institute New York

Note:
25 June is the birthday of Frigyes Karinthy & Ralph Dumain

Frigyes & Ferenc Karinthy in English

Frigyes (Frederiko) Karinthy (1887-1938) en Esperanto

Futurology, Science Fiction, Utopia, and Alienation
in the Work of Imre Madách, György Lukács, and Other Hungarian Writers:
Select Bibliography

Offsite:

Prologue (poem by Frigyes Karinthy)
translated by Csilla D.F.

Frigyes Karinthy @ Ĝirafo

Frigyes Karinthy @ 50 watts