Kopin Katalin: Kilenc évtized a művészet vonzásában. Pirk Jánosné Remsey Ágnes (1915-2010) és a Remseyek - PMMI - Ferenczy Múzeum kiadványai 33. (Szentendre, 2011)
Tímea Major Ágnes Remsey’s literary works Ágnes Remsey (1915-2010) is primarily known as an applied artist. She started writing in the 1950s in order to counterbalance her hard life by creating an imaginary world. Her book entitled A Bigger Move, which is a documentary novel, a saga and a Bildungsroman in one, commemorates not only the painter Jenő György Remsey and the applied artist Vilma Frey, but also her parents’ generation and the members of the Gödöllő Colony of Artists. The book is an important historical source documenting the everyday life of the Gödöllő Colony of Artists. Ágnes Remsey’s most outstanding writings are her fairy tale novels. The heroine of her symbolic work, Shards is a little girl. Before entering school, she learns about and experiences completeness under the intellectual guidance of an old instructress. Golden Ball was written for both adults and children. In the novel, two little boys discover the world, different external and internal landscapes with a lonely old man. During the symbolic journey, the tales told by the old man turn the elder boy’s attention to transcendency. Ágnes Remsey defined the genre of Nine Wives' Christmas or Clouds’ Game as a documentary novel. The story begins in the years after World War II, but most of the plot takes place during the 1950s. The topic of the book is spiritual preparation for Christmas. Its heroines are women who, despite the suffering they experienced, want to stand on their own feet by deriving strength from their faith and each other. Eventually, they succeed. In Ágnes Remsey’s book entitled No Object, No Living Creature, watercolours of flowers and dolls are just as important as texts. In her work, The Chronicle of the Twentieth Century in Three Languages (in Dollish, Childish and Human), we can see paintings of dolls evoking family memories. A twentieth century period evolves from each doll story as a subjective historical chronicle. The intellectual influence of Béla Hamvas can be felt in Ágnes Remsey's works. The parabolic narrative style she used in her novels and tales resembles Hamvas’s writing style. The works of both authors are based on the balance between emotional mysticism and reason. Their basic motives are similar as well: both of them wrote about the importance of self-seeking, initiation, the existence of an intellectual leader or a master. Although literary criticism failed to pay enough attention to Ágnes Remsey’s works, a lot of readers know her books, and look forward to the publication of her manuscripts. 44
