Miklos Vamos at PostGlobal

Miklos Vamos

Budapest, Hungary

Miklós Vámos is a Hungarian novelist, screenwriter and talk show host. He is one of the most read and respected writers in his native Hungary. He has taught at Yale University on a Fulbright fellowship, served as The Nation’s East European correspondent, worked as consultant on the Oscar-winning film Mephisto, and presented Hungary’s most-watched cultural television show. Vámos has received numerous awards for his plays, screenplays, novels and short stories, including the Hungarian Merit Award for lifetime achievement. The Book of Fathers is considered his most accomplished novel and has sold 200,000 copies in Hungary. Close.

Miklos Vamos

Budapest, Hungary

Miklós Vámos is a Hungarian novelist, screenwriter and talk show host. more »

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Why Have Marriage at All?

Budapest, Hungary - Most marriages end up in divorce or awful relationships. Wouldn't it be much easier to live without the institution of marriage?

Budapest, Hungary - I do not see why on Earth the homosexuals should not be allowed to do anything the heterosexuals are allowed to do. I have seen a few homosexuals living together with less problems than heterosexual couples, and their ties seemed to me stronger. They were more loyal and sincere to each other than the traditional husbands and wives. I know, there is still the problem of having children, but they can always ask a female friend to help out or they can adopt - and there are so many children who need that, especially in Africa.

The more important question goes like this: Should anybody be allowed to marry another living creature at all? Most marriages end up in divorce or awful relationships. Wouldn't it be much easier to live without the institution of marriage? The human nature is so delicate. We live alone, so we experience freedom, but loneliness is a standard companion of freedom. When we have had enough of that, we choose someone and start to live with him/her (and the legal procedure of the marriage is not the point, without that paper a permanent relationship is also marriage, without the financial ties). Then we feel we lost our freedom, and sooner or later wish to break the ties. When we finally do it, we get back our freedom, but our loneliness comes back to. And so on and on, merry go round.

What can be said? What can be done? I haven't the faintest idea. But the sexual preferences have nothing to do with the point of the institution of the marriage. So, let's try to talk about the point, if we are not to prudish for that.

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