Gyula Krúdy - as seen by Sándor Márai.

The author began his talk by admitting that his taking to Krúdy had in fact been inspired by Márai. Therefore, in this public lecture, he tried to present that curious personality of the history of Hungarian literature with the help of Márai's essays and numerous remarks. Márai knew Krúdy's life and work quite closely and how much he was attracted to him was demonstrated by a number of facts. He kept an eye on the publication or re-publication of each of Krúdy's works and always wrote appreciative remarks on those occasions. The writer whose works Márai read the most frequently, apart from János Arany, was Krúdy, almost throughout his lifetime. If he was talking about the greatest figures of Hungarian and world literature, he never failed to list Krúdy among them. And he knew small, seemingly insignificant details about him, too. The author then went on to discuss the fact that Márai had characterised Krúdy as an ideal person and as an ideal writer. He emphasised Krúdy's representation of reality as verging on the mythical, and thought that it had been his most courageous achievement to remain an independent writer. He also pointed out how conscious Krúdy had been of his own talent. He especially stressed two features of Krúdy's style: its atmosphericity and its musicality.