The color change of dust . The commemoration of Otto Tolnai
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The Southern House cordially invites all interested parties on Wednesday, 15 October 2025 at 6 p.m. to commemorate the literary heritage of Otto Tolnai.
The title of the evening is the change of colour of the dust, which reminds us of the fineness of Tolnai's images and leads us from here to the most human, deepest layer of the oeuvre.
Tolnai Ott贸 is one of the greatest figures of southern Hungarian literature, poet, prosaic writer, essayist and playwright, who created a unique language and world. In his art everyday objects, collection, sensitivity to detail grow into a universe, while his texts are woven through the motifs of fine art, music and theatre.
His life's work goes beyond the Hungarian literary tradition: he gained the status of secular literature, while always remained faithful to his roots in Vojvodina. His merits were recognized with several prestigious awards, including the Kossuth Prize, Hungary's Bab茅rcora and the Herceg J谩nos Literature Prize. In recent decades he has been considered one of the most influential Central European writers.
The lecturer was Literary historian Anik贸 Nov谩k (Zenta, 1984), Head of the Department of Hungarian Language and Literature at the University of Novi Sad. He graduated from the University of Szeged. He also wrote his dissertation on Ott贸 Tolnai's oeuvre (Poetics of the Collection , Collection and Museum in the Art of Ott贸 Tolnai). In recent years, his research has also covered the literary representation of refugees.
During the evening, literature and memory are woven together: from the motif of dust to the ashes of Tolna, we can discover together the traces of lasting values. The performance is not only a memory, but also a dialogue: how to preserve and reinterpret the lessons of a great oeuvre in the present.