[Women in Frigyes Karinthy's life and works].

Abstract

Not all women in Frigyes Karinthy's art were presented as evil: the figures of the deceased mother and first wife are reflected as inaccessible goddesses in his late works. These characters do possess some negativity that stems from the pain they caused by their death. On the other hand, feminine characters inspired by Aranka Böhm, the second wife are in contact with the men of Karinthy's works but do not connect to them on an emotional level and they exploit men as well. This tipology of women in Karinthy's art represents his relationships well with Karolina Engel, Etel Judik and Aranka Böhm - suggesting that his works are heavily influenced by events in his life. There might be two types of motivation behind these confessions: the first one is finding an explanation for the sudden death of the mother and first wife through philosophical works which might have arisen from Karinthy's feeling of guilt; the second is relieving stress coming from his stormy marriage with Aranka Böhm, while thinking about the way of his wife's (and humanity's) salvation.