"Those who get divorced, later, even years later, when all memories are ash and cooled lava, talk about the event a little excitedly. (...) They talk, with suppressed enthusiasm, as if the relationship still lasts without bed and table and cohabitation, as if they still have the right and the means to hold the other accountable for something that they didn't return, that they hid or stole, that wasn't enough gavalér... they still demand something from the other. What do they demand? They don't know exactly, they look away, they grumble. Then they remember: they demand happiness.
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Author
Márai SándorAll Translations
All Translations
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Those who get divorced, later, even years later, when all memories are ash and cooled lava, talk about the event a little excitedly. (...) They talk, with suppressed enthusiasm, as if the relationship still lasts without bed and table and cohabitation, as if they still have the right and the means to hold the other accountable for something that they didn't return, that they hid or stole, that wasn't enough gavalér... they still demand something from the other. What do they demand? They don't know exactly, they look away, they grumble. Then they remember: they demand happiness.
""Akik elválnak, később, évek múlva is, mikor minden emlék hamu és kihűlt láva már, kissé izgatottan beszélnek az eseményről. (...) Úgy beszélnek, fojtott lelkendezéssel, mintha még tartana a kapcsolat, ágy és asztal és együttélés nélkül is, mintha még joguk és módjuk lenne számon kérni a másikon valamit, amit nem adott vissza, amit elrejtett vagy ellopott, nem volt eléggé gavallér... még mindig követelnek valamit a másikon. Mit követelnek? Nem tudják pontosan, félrenéznek, morognak. Aztán eszükbe jut: a boldogságot követelik."