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The Petőfi Literary Museum has purchased the manuscript notes of Ferenc Molnár’s work “A Companion in Exile.” After restoration and primary professional processing, the museum plans to present the collection of documents in a literary evening and an occasional exhibition, the museum told MTI on Thursday.
A manuscript note by Ferenc Molnár, which the author wrote after his emigration to the United States in 1940 and which was thought to have been lost, was found in an antique shop in California and contains the drafts of his autobiographical prose entitled Companion in Exile.
Photo: Petőfi Literary Museum (Zsolt Birtalan)
The document is a chronicle of the friendship and bond between Ferenc Molnár, who was forced into emigration, and his secretary Vanda Bartha.
It is a warmly voiced reminiscence of the author’s secretary, collaborator and assistant, who accompanied him in his private life and in his profession during these years.
After the tragic and sudden death of Vanda Bartha in 1947, Ferenc Molnár fell into a persistent depression and spent the last years of his life bitter and withdrawn until his death in 1952. The voluminous autograph notes, mostly in German and to a lesser extent in English, written in the late 1940s in ballpoint pen, blue ink, and red pencil on various sizes of paper, will be available to researchers after restoration.
Photo: Petőfi Literary Museum (Zsolt Birtalan)
Ferenc Molnár, often known abroad as Franz Molnar, was a Hungarian writer and journalist, widely regarded as Hungary’s most celebrated and controversial playwright.
Perhaps his best-known work is the short youth novel The Paul Street Boys, but it is worth noting that Ferenc Molnár is a writer of the caliber whose works have been performed all over the world. His 50th birthday was celebrated in style on Broadway in New York, and he was personally received at the White House by the President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge. Ferenc Molnár’s popularity is also confirmed by the fact that in the 1920s and 1930s, he was estimated to have earned more than $1 million a year.
Featured photo via Vígszínház