Kalla Zsuzsa: Beszélő tárgyak. A Petőfi család relikviái (Budapest, 2006)

Rita Ratzky: Sándor Petőfi, his tastes and style

‘worth considering what prosaic and, so to speak, ordinary dreams were being awakened in the soul of the poet already well-known for his wonderful imagination by the persuasive lottery advertisement which appeared regularly in Pest daily papers. With that 200,000 forints [...] he could have bought land, castles, coaches - providing he won, of course! - Petőfi was living in rooms rented by the month and received a modest income, and in late autumn 1845 his dearest wish was for “a warm winter coat”.’ (1988, 252)

The early summer of 1844 saw the beginning of a period lasting around six months when Petőfi used his appearance to demonstrate a patriotic Hungarian idea and a folk-based trend in national poetry. This is what his employer and landlord, Imre Vahot, said on the subject: *[...] to encourage him to write poems and to persuade him to write poems which were even more Hungarian, I had a tailor make him a Hungarian folk costume [...] following his own design and instructions. A short fur-lined pelisse similar to the one worn by his soul mate, the eminent poet Mihály Csokonai Vitéz, a pair of tight, braided Hungarian trousers, a Túr-style fur cap with a crane feather, a pair of spurred cordovan leather boots, a small axe on a long helve, and a short clay pipe.’ (1881, 252) István Sass also described these clothes, which were made for the occasion of the first volume of Versek [Poems] 1842-1844 by Gáspár Tóth master tailor, member of the National Circle and Pe- tőfi’s creditor. Sass’s recollections, however, differ slightly from those of Vahot regarding the headwear and the accessories: ‘One can imagine, when everyone was wearing stovepipe hats, tails and loose trousers, how he must have stood out in his below the waist, braided, dark green pelisse with its fur, matching waistcoat, tight-fitting trousers, boots, silk-braided, black necktie and with a fluttering crane feather in his low, circular felt hat with its turned-up brim. With his raglan thrown over his shoulders, he scurried along, hardly seeing or recognising anyone along the way [...] Instead of a leaded stick, which was usual at the time, he carried a thin, red cane with a small, white button.’ (1883, 731-732) It is impossible to know which description, if either, is accurate. At that time Vahot saw Petőfi almost every day, so his may be the more reliable. However, both men only published their recollections of events around this time some forty years later. Details vary, but there is not doubt as to the clothes themselves- the braided, dark green, fur-lined pelisse with the waistcoat, and the tight, braided trousers. According to Vahot, it was his idea that his latest discovery should run around as a living advertisement in this national costume, but that it was Petőfi who gave the tailor instructions as to what the outfit should actually look like.

This national costume, as Vahot called it with Csokonai in mind, dates back forty or fifty years and evoked a style of Hungarian men’s clothing from the end of the 18th century. Vahot actually used the term ‘folk-style costume’, although this is not entirely accurate, as only the Túr fur cap, the axe on the long helve and, in Sass’s version, the circular felt hat with the turned-up brim can be called ‘folk’. Petőfi regarded Csokonai as his intellectual predecessor - and not only in the genre of the drinking song - but it is fairly certain that he was not in the habit of showing his respect for people in a ritualistic way, especially his respect for those to whom he felt very close. He tended to dismiss his affection with either jokes (for example in lrtóztató csalódás [A Terrible Disappointment] and Tompa Mihályhoz [To Mihály Tompa]) or irony as in the last passage of the third part of Úti levelek Kerényi Frigyeshez: ‘We arrived in Debrecen around evening, and came past the cemetery where Csokonai is lying. The twilight fog was hanging like an ashen veil over the black, iron statue of the poet. My eyes rested on it, and I pondered on whether other travellers would ponder like this by my grave!’

Petőfi’s choice of coat for his national costume reflected his respect for Csokonai, but possibly even more so, that which he had for the poet József Gvadányi (1725-1801). A friend of Petőfi’s from Pozsony recognised where the idea for the coat had come from when he referred to it as a ‘Zajtay Pelisse’ (Kolmár 1880, 9-10), Zajtay being the hero of Gvadányi’s verse epic Egy falusi nótárius budai utazása [A Rural Notary’s Journey to Buda]. In August 1844 — and wearing his outfit - Petőfi wrote a brilliantly executed poem called A régi jó Gvadányi [Good Old Gvadányi] in which he speaks through his esteemed predecessor. In Hungarian literature Gvadányi’s works are regarded as a tradition worthy of preservation, and this is reflected in the fact that a novel written by Petőfi as late as 1846, A hóhér kötele [The Hangman’s Rope], contains numerous quotations from works by him. One of these works is Egy falusi nótárius budai utazása and the stage version by József Gaál,

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