Discover The Door Curated By Magda Szabó Format Printable Format

main character of this story, the woman whose front door provides the title, is called Emerence.

Every time her name was mentioned, I automatically put a 'g' in it and read it as 'Emergence' which turned out to be quite fitting because the aspect of the writing that struck me most was the pacing: the way the story emerged little by little.
Author Magda Szabó keeps a tight control over the narrative, allowing details to take on clarity very gradually as when a piece of photographic paper lying in a chemical bath slowly reveals the image that has been projected onto it.


Using such an old fashioned simile is fitting too because most of this story is set long before digital photography.
The present day of the narrative is communist Hungary in the nineteen sixties to eighties, but the backstory takes place much earlier, between WWI and WWII.
However, viewed from the vantage point of the narrator also called Magda, and also a writer, who is firmly ensconced in the more modern and less oppressive half of the twentieth century, the backstory initially is only a vague shadow.
And in spite of briefly revealing the end of the story at the beginning, Magda narrates from the position of the reader as regards how the story will play out, i.
e. , she acts as if she were completely in the dark quite a neat trick given she resembles the author so closely.


So, while we know that she knows everything, we are lulled into thinking she knows nothing which is convenient because otherwise it would be difficult to accept how awkwardly she behaves at crucial moments in the story as she bungles things again and again, trying our patience quite a bit.
But it is such moments that allow the character of Emerence to be further developed, and so Magda's foolishness serves the author's purpose perfectly.


Magda's bungling is another way in which she mirrors the reader, Like her, we are inclined to underestimate Emerence during the course of the story, But our underestimation gets a serious jolt when the full picture emerges at last,
Because, yes, this story is one of very gradual Emergence until finally it speeds up and races towards a situation of major major Emergency! The narrator and the reader follow along as well as we are able.


A very allegorical story which throws new light onto the history of Hungary in theth century, for this reader at least.
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At some point during my reading of this, I was reminded of sitelinkThe God of Small Things in that I felt as if this too can be read on two levels and that if I knew more of the history of the country of origin here it is Hungary, I wouldve gotten even more out of the novel.
Because I know basically nothing of the latter I googled some, and even though this can be read as a charactersrelationship study, I feel as if something essential has eluded my grasp.
Yes, we are told in perfect pacing what Emerence has endured and how she has survived the upheavals, but there are also minor characterssuch as Sutu and Adelkathat might represent the accommodation and compromise Hungary was forced to negotiate during and after wartime.
The dignity Emerence fights so hard to keep behind the locked door of her flat is certainly a metaphor for more than just a personal boundary.


The narrator, a writer, has made accommodations with the government, though these are not spelled out.
As she looks back the whole book is a reflection, she realizes how unseeing and selfish shed been toward the demanding, selfless Emerence, a character described in fablelike and mythological terms, whod tried to teach her some difficult lessons in unorthodox ways, most importantly, how to act with unconditional love.
Emerences demands are perhaps beyond the scope of anyone to fulfill yet the narrator only named near the end when Emerence calls her by an affectionate nickname realizes she has failed the older woman, especially as Emerence had taught her what she needed to know remember Polett to handle the climatic situation.
As I write this, I realize there is also a third level,

During my read, I went back to the powerful beginning at least twice to reread it.
A scene near the end is a strong indictment against materialism, for any reason, even love, If I have any criticism, its that though the book isnt long, it went on for a bit too long.
Except for the aforementioned scene, the novels other points had already been made, Despite this one reservation and my wish that I knew more, this is the kind of novel I love, one that has me testing my own boundaries.



Magda Szabó's The Door an intense story, a haunting story, a fiercely compelling story of the relationship between two women living in a Hungarian village: Magda, a married writer and Emerence, a mysterious housekeeper possessing qualities of epic proportions.
To my eye the above portrait by Hungarian born artist Csaba Markus captures what Emerence must have looked like as a younger woman.


Critical responses to The Door have been dramatic in the extreme: Ali Smith: "a story of such savagery that it demands both silence and truth," Cynthia Zarin: "a boneshaking book," Deborah Eisenberg: "a whiteknuckle experience," Claire Messud: "It has altered the way I understand my own life.
" Let me assure you, reading The Door and listening to Siân Thomas narrate the audio book makes for one riveting, unforgettable experience.


Originally published in Hungarian in, this New York Books edition of The Door is translated into a fluid English by Len Rix and includes a short Introduction by Ali Smith.
Author Magda Szabó acknowledges there's a strong element of autobiography at work,

We are in a Hungarian village and listen in as an established author by the name of Magda recounts her experience over the course of twenty years, from, say, aboutto, living in a large apartment with her husband, a university instructor, and dog.
However, the heart of the heart of this tale centers around Magda and older Emerence, an illiterate woman of peasant stock with almost superhuman strength and endurance for work in the service of others.


A number of other men and women strut and fret their minutes on the pages of the novel the son of Emerence's brother "Józsi's boy", a Lieutenant Colonel and three old women, friends of Emerence: Adélka, Polett, Sutu but Emerence is the true dramatic presence and it is Emerence whom I will make the focus of my review.


Emerence as theth Century
Magda figures Emerence was born around, The more Emerence shares her tragic background, including losing her father as a young child, as a thirteenyearold witnessing the death of her beautiful twin siblings during a storm followed immediately by the suicide of her mother, her orphan years during and after WWI, living through the atrocities and brutalities of WWII, the more we recognize Emerence embodies the twentieth century, especially twentieth century Hungary.
We feel her bitterness when she tells Magda: "You don't die that easily, but let me tell you, you come close to it.
Afterwards, what you went through makes you so clever you wish you could become stupid again, utterly stupid.
Well, I got clever, which shouldn't surprise you, because I was given training round the clock, "

Emerence as a true Christian
The more I learned of Emerence's unflinching love and ceaseless devotion to those in need women, men, children, animals the more I was reminded of theth ampth century European women who became Beguines to embrace a life of poverty in order to care for the poor and sick.
Although Emerence is illiterate, she reminds me specifically of Marguerite Porete, a Beguine, mystic and author of The Mirror of Simple Souls emphasizing the power of love as infinitely more important than following Church rules.
Marguerite Porete, a truly freespirited woman was burned at the stake for heresy, One can only wonder if Emerence would have been condemned to a similar fate if born in those Medieval years.


Emerence as Ancient Pagan Spirit
When Magda reflects on the inner spirit of this powerful woman, she sprinkles in references to Homer, Hesiod and Greek mythology, references to Sophocles, Euripides and Greek tragedy.
“Beneath MedeaEmerences headscarf glowed the fires of the underworld, " No doubt about it, Emerence, a woman of the Earth who is larger than life,

Emerence as Village Hero
Over the years Emerence came in conflict with others in the village, a series of nasty incidents with a pigeon breeder comes immediately to mind.
But this tireless woman never permitted her dedication to her

neighbors to slacken among her many chores: clearing snow from eleven different buildings and raising Viola, the dog Magda and her husband take in.
"Everyone trusted Emerence, but she trusted noone or, to be more precise, she doles out crumbs of trust to a chosen few the Lieutenant Colonel, me, Polett while she was alive, Józsi's boy and stray morsels to a few others.
"

Emerence as Monument Builder
"She was saving her strength for the time when she might actually do something about the past.
" The drama of how exactly Emerence plans out her final tribute to those she held dear in her life is something to behold.


Emerence as fierce judge and jury
Emerence is not one to pull any punches.
Magda absorbs the sting in the truth of her words, "You have an appalling nature," she began, "You puff yourself up like a bullfrog, and one day you'll explode, The only thing you're good for is getting your friend in the helicopter to make trees dance by trickery.
You never grasp what is simple, "

Emerence the fierce individual
In the end, all of what I have noted above can be tossed in the fire there is no doubt, Emerence is her own woman, one who defies categorization.
"What more do you want I cook, I wash, I clean and tidy, I brought Viola up for you, I'm not your dead mother, or your nursemaid, or your little chum, Leave me in peace. "

How could I write my review without a reference to the door, Emerence's door, Right before Magda does receive entrance here is what Emerence has to say: "Now pay attention, If you tell anyone, I'll put a curse on you, Anyone I curse comes to a sticky end, You're going to see something noone has ever seen, and noone ever will, until they bury me.
" What does Magda get to see You will have to read this classic novel for yourself to find out.



Master Storyteller Magda Szabó from Hungary,

"She also demanded of me that, in my art, it should be real passion and not machinery that moved the branches.
That was a major gift, the greatest of her bequests, ”
Magda Szabó, The Door,