‘…OR NOT TO BE’ FERENC MOLNÁR’S LETTERS TO LILI DARVAS

The second volume in a series of bibliophile new philological results issued by the Manuscript Archive of the Museum came out for the 125th anniversary of the birth of Ferenc Molnár. His sixty-six surviving letters in the Lili Darvas bequest date back to the period between 1924 and 1945. They help us to form an idea of the emotional relationship between the world-famous writer and the celebrated Reinhardt actress, of certain aspects of contemporary theatre life, and last but not least, of the political events of the age. The letters with the supplementary factual and biographical notes and references may serve as additional material for an authentic Molnár monograph and an outline of the career of Lili Darvas – little-known in this country. The chapters are separated by József Rippl-Rónai’s coloured drawings of Lili Darvas, while the letters are illustrated with facsimiles of the Molnár manuscripts, and the explanatory chapters with unpublished or little-known photographs, images of never-before-seen personal documents, stage-settings and costume-designs. Expecting certain interest on the part of German and American researchers, we have also published the book in English.