A világhírű mű angol fordítása az Angliában élő, magyar származású George Szirtes munkája, a könyv előszavát George F. Cushing írta, a szöveg illusztrációjául pedig Zichy Mihály rajzai szolgálnak.

The Tragedy of Man (Hungarian: Az ember tragédiája) is a play written by the Hungarian author Imre Madách. It was first published in 1861. The play is considered to be one of the major works of Hungarian literature and is one of the most often staged Hungarian plays today. Many lines have become common quotations in Hungary. The 1984 film The Annunciation (Angyali üdvözlet) was based on the play, as was the 2011 animated film The Tragedy of Man.

Sequence of scenes

The Tragedy of Man contains fifteen scenes, with ten historical periods represented. The scenes, their locations, and the identity of the main protagonists in each are as follows.

SCENE 1 – In Heaven, immediately following the creation.
SCENE 2 – In the Garden of Eden at the Beginning of Human History, likely around 50,000 BC.
SCENE 3 – Outside the Garden of Eden at the Beginning of Human History.
SCENE 4 – Egypt, c. 2650 BC. Adam is a Pharaoh, most likely Djoser; Lucifer his Vizier; Eve is the wife of a slave.
SCENE 5 – Athens, 489 BC. Adam is Miltiades the Younger; Lucifer is a guard; Eve is Miltiades' wife.
SCENE 6 – Rome, c. AD 67. Adam is a wealthy Roman; Lucifer is his friend, Eve is his girlfriend.
SCENE 7 – Constantinople, AD 1096. Adam is Tancred, Prince of Galilee; Lucifer is his squire; Eve is a noble maiden forced to become a nun.
SCENE 8 – Prague, c. AD 1615. Adam is Johannes Kepler; Lucifer is his pupil; Eve is his wife, Barbara.
SCENE 9 – Paris, AD 1793 (in a dream of Kepler). Adam is Georges Danton; Lucifer is an executioner; Eve appears in two forms, first as an aristocrat about to be executed, then immediately following as a bloodthirsty poor woman.
SCENE 10 – Prague, c. AD 1615. Adam is Johannes Kepler; Lucifer is his pupil; Eve is his wife, Barbara.
SCENE 11 – London, 19th century. Adam and Lucifer are nameless Englishmen; Eve is a young woman of the middle class.
SCENE 12 – A Communist/Technocratic Phalanstery, in the future. Adam and Lucifer masquerade as traveling chemists; Eve is a worker who protests when she is separated from her child.
SCENE 13 – Space. Adam and Lucifer are themselves, Eve does not appear in this scene.
SCENE 14 – An ice age in the distant future, at least AD 6000. Adam is a broken old man; Lucifer is himself; Eve is an Eskimo's wife.
SCENE 15 – Outside Eden at the Beginning of Time.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR:

George Szirtes (/ˈsɪərtɛʃ/; born 29 November 1948) is a British poet and translator from the Hungarian language into English. Originally from Hungary, he has lived in the United Kingdom for most of his life after coming to the country as a refugee at the age of eight. Szirtes was a judge for the 2017 Griffin Poetry Prize.