Hamlet and Bánk. World drama and national tragedy

Interpretations of the hero of one of the best-known works of Shakespeare and that of Hungarian playwright József Katona have been connected in the book authored by the excellent theater historian Adrienne Darvay Nagy. The book is part of a series publishing her research results and thoughts, and it was dubbed by her as a “Hamlet-fan’s tetralogy”.  

Darvay Nagy’s latest book published in Nagyvárad (Oradea) in 2019 (Nem örök e világ. Bánk bán, a Magyar Hamlet, (This World is not Eternal. The Viceroy, the Hungarian Hamlet), Várad Publishing House) is organically linked to the first three volumes already presented in NSZL in 2014:

• A kor foglalatjai – Hamlet az ezredfordulón (Frames of the Age - Hamlet at the Turn of the Millennium) (Holnap Publishing House, Budapest, 2006)
• Ki vagy? – Hamlet a Claudiusok korában (Who are you? - Hamlet in the Claudius Era) (Riport Publishing House, Nagyvárad, 2013)
• Szereptudásra vagy rögtönzésre. Demeter András a s(z)ínen (On Role Play or Improvisation. András Demeter on the Scene) (Europrint Publishing House, Nagyvárad, 2013)

With the presentation of the book by Adrienne Darvay Nagy, we invite our guests to an exciting time travel, spanning from London – via Paris, Moscow and Cairo –to Germany, then –  via Pest-Buda –  to Kassa (Košice) and Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca); from the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, via 19th century romanticism gaining a national momentum, until the present day.

“Hamletologist” author and her partner in discussion, Dr. Ildikó Sirató, a theater historian herself, will tackle the secrets of Bánk bán (The Viceroy) worded in the drama written 200 years ago, as well as the mysteries of Hamlet one more time. Related to Shakespeare’s world drama, the discussion will also focus on the 19th-century periods of Hungarian theater and drama history, the theater expert’s actor- and reason-centered methodology, and the values connecting history with the present day.

Organized by the Theater History Collection of National Széchényi Library, a book presentation ceremony will start at 4 p.m. on February 14, 2020 in Boardroom 516 of National Széchényi Library.

Attendance of the program is free.