{"id":1632,"date":"2018-06-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-31T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.newyorkcafe.hu\/new-york-muvesz-paholy-brody-sandor-a-tarsasag-sarmor-lelke\/"},"modified":"2026-11-06T13:41:25","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T12:41:25","slug":"new-york-muvesz-paholy-sandor-brody-the-charming-soul-of-the-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newyorkcafe.hu\/en\/new-york-muvesz-paholy-brody-sandor-a-tarsasag-sarmor-lelke\/","title":{"rendered":"New York M\u0171v\u00e9sz P\u00e1holy \u2013 S\u00e1ndor Br\u00f3dy \u2013 the charming heart and soul of the society"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"abstract\">\n\n<strong>Nor did this passionate Hungarian writer, playwright and journalist belong to the circle of reserved men. Through both his works and his personality, the \u201eHungarian Zola\u201d influenced, amongst others, Endre Ady, Zsigmond M\u00f3ricz, Gyula Kr\u00fady, Dezs\u0151 Szomory and Ferenc Moln\u00e1r.<\/strong>\n\nHe intended to become a village schoolteacher, but never completed his studies. He managed to make up for his lack of formal education with his extraordinary talent. At the age of 18, he began working as a clerk for his elder brother, who was a solicitor in Gyula. It was here that he managed to have his first articles published in the local newspaper. He was greatly influenced by J\u00f3kai\u2019s effusive storytelling and Zola\u2019s naturalism. After moving to Budapest in 1884, he succeeded in publishing his collection of short stories *Nyomor* and his novel *Faust, the Doctor*, both of which caused quite a stir.\n\nHe was a man of passionate nature. The handsome Br\u00f3dy seduced Margit Hunyady, a well-known actress of her time, shortly after arriving in Kolozsv\u00e1r. The relationship soon produced an illegitimate son, S\u00e1ndor Hunyady, who was his favourite; he too would later embark on a literary career. By this time, he was already married to Judit Feh\u00e9r. He left his family in Budapest but continued to support them financially.\n\nBetween 1903 and 1905, with the collaboration of Zolt\u00e1n Ambrus and G\u00e9za G\u00e1rdonyi, he edited the weekly newspaper *J\u00f6vend\u0151*, which was the forerunner of *Nyugat*. In it, he criticised the injustices of contemporary society. Meanwhile, he was having an affair with the writer Ren\u00e9e Erd\u0151s. Br\u00f3dy, who lived his emotions with great passion, attempted suicide in Semmering in the summer of 1905. After recovering, he returned to journalism, working for the *Pesti H\u00edrlap*, the *Nap*, the *Ujs\u00e1g* and *Az Est*. Although he sympathised with the Hungarian Soviet Republic, he did not play an active role in it. Nevertheless, during the counter-revolution, he was forced into exile in Vienna.\n\nHe was combative and witty, brimming with ideas. He was the life and soul of the social circles of his time, and he also dictated literary fashion.\n\nHe returned to Hungary in 1923. He suddenly found himself alone, but was in a precarious financial position. He still managed to write his last major work, a cycle of short stories about Rembrandt, the lonely, ageing artist. He was subsequently admitted to hospital and passed away.\n\nPassion characterised everything he did. This was evident not only in his relationships and lifestyle, but also in his enthusiasm for food.\n\nIn response to Ignotus\u2019s famous recipe competition, Br\u00f3dy described the goulash, one of his favourites, as follows: \u201cThis is our main dish, for those of us who live in this nation-state, whether as descendants of the hero \u00c1rp\u00e1d or of David the Sling-bearer. A good, hearty, paprika-spiced stew \u2013 for ever! All political parties are united in this belief. There are no differences of opinion, taste or interest here. B\u00e1nffy believes in goulash, as does Hock, and I very much fear that Apponyi has not become more than he is simply because he did not believe strongly and sincerely enough in goulash \u2013 the real thing. Take Gyula Andr\u00e1ssy, for instance: he was merely brought up in high society, and I have just heard from his former cook \u2013 who is now head chef at the restaurant on Margaret Island \u2013 that, of all dishes, the count held goulash in the highest regard. You, goulash, best reflect our national character and our climatic conditions! But you must indeed be well-braised; do not be pale, wan or light in colour. You must be a deep brown, and the gravy beneath you must be neither too thick nor too thin, nor watery. And if you are made from boneless veal, a little finely minced beef\u2014almost like a meatloaf\u2014should be added to strengthen your gravy; if possible, use tough, well-coloured chuck.\u201d\n\nIn his work *Portraits of Writers*, Gyula Kr\u00fady painted a very sharp portrait of his fellow writer, who took his seat at the table in front of the till at the famous literary caf\u00e9, the New York: \u201eS\u00e1ndor Br\u00f3dy shines, struts and flatters at the table in front of the till at the New York caf\u00e9; he stirs up trouble, and his favourite catchphrase\u2014that he never reads newspapers\u2014is often heard. This was just as much a writer\u2019s exaggeration as his claim that he never writes in caf\u00e9s! He didn\u2019t write; rather, he worked!\u201d\u2026 and at times he would shower the author of a police report with such praise that you would never forget it for the rest of your life, at other times he offers two or three-word critiques to the author of a new book that has been launched with great fanfare and much pomp, which the honoured gentleman will likewise recall to himself for the rest of his life, albeit through gritted teeth.\u201d\n\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"newsCenterCol\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nor did this passionate Hungarian writer, playwright and journalist belong to the circle of reserved men. Through both his works and his personality, the \u201eHungarian Zola\u201d influenced, amongst others, Endre Ady, Zsigmond M\u00f3ricz, Gyula Kr\u00fady, Dezs\u0151 Szomory and Ferenc Moln\u00e1r.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-muveszek"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkcafe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkcafe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkcafe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkcafe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkcafe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkcafe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3921,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkcafe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632\/revisions\/3921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkcafe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkcafe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkcafe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkcafe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}