Mária Szepes died in Budapest on 3 September 2007, at the age of 98, closing a literary career spanning most of the 20th century.
On 3 September 2007, Mária Szepes died in her native city of Budapest at the remarkable age of 98. Her death marked the end of an era for Hungarian literature and for the broader European esoteric and spiritual literary tradition, of which she had become one of the last living representatives to have witnessed nearly the entire twentieth century firsthand.
Szepes had lived through an extraordinary span of Hungarian and European history — from the final years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, through both World Wars, the Holocaust, decades of communist rule, and finally the democratic transition of the 1990s. Throughout all of this, she continued to write, publish, and speak publicly about her esoteric philosophy well into her old age, cementing her reputation as an indefatigable creative spirit.
Her most celebrated novel, The Red Lion (A vörös oroszlán), originally written decades earlier but suppressed and only properly published later in her life, had by the time of her death achieved a cult following, being translated into multiple languages and considered a foundational work of modern esoteric fiction. Her death was mourned by admirers of Hungarian literature and by the international community of readers interested in alchemical and spiritual philosophy.
Institutions such as the Mária Szepes Foundation were established to preserve her legacy, ensuring that her literary and philosophical contributions continued to be studied and celebrated after her passing. Her death on this date closed one of the longest and most unusual literary careers in modern Hungarian history.