Kalla Zsuzsa: Beszélő tárgyak. A Petőfi család relikviái (Budapest, 2006)
Rita Ratzky: Sándor Petőfi, his tastes and style
Rita Ratzky SÁNDOR PETŐFI: HIS TASTES AND STYLE Sándor Petőfi’s appearance and the clothes he wore were often mentioned in recollections and contemporary correspondence. We are thus provided with a wealth of information on the subject (Hatvany 1967, Petőfi-adattár II, 1987). There is lively interest in this aspect of the poet’s life, also including his personal belongings, objects and even his immediate surroundings. Most recollections of Petőfi date from thirty or forty years after his death in 1849, by which time his status as an immortal poet was assured. By then, those with personal memories of Petőfi had become intoxicated by the knowledge that they had at one time come into contact with him. Since most of them - school friends, fellow soldiers and promising writers - had only known him for a short period of time, they endeavoured to add colour to and flesh out their fading and sometimes scanty memories. This is something which Petőfi researchers have to bear in mind when using the recollections of contemporaries as source material. Petőfi’s acquaintances almost always recalled some minute details, and it is this attention to detail that shows a desire to prove the authenticity of a recollection. At the same time, Petőfi’s sense of style was without doubt unusual, and may be the reason his appearance made such an impression on people. The wife of the poet Sándor Vachott, and the novelist Mór Jókai described his appearance as unusual and strange (Vachott Sándorné 1887, I, 341; Jókai 1898, 172-173), whereas the novelist Zsigmond Kemény, who met Petőfi several times, described him in a diary entry of 14th August 1846 as ‘handsomely dressed’ (Kemény Zs., in: Petőfi- adattár II, 1987,92). It is interesting to consider why researchers are concerned with the everyday lives of writers. The everyday personality of a writer is not what appears in his creative work. However, the two overlap so often that a thorough understanding of the former can help us understand the latter and piecing together a poet’s personality can help us interpret “When Sándor comes to meet us, he is always wearing something that makes us dream with him. ” (The words of Albert Pálffy in Mór Jókai’s recollections Életemből [From My Life]) his works. In the same way that an in-depth study of a biography can provide for a more detailed exploration of the oeuvre, so research into a writer’s personality can provide for a more comprehensive analysis of his works. Sándor Petőfi: His Tastes and Style is not a study on the history of clothing. It sets out to show how Petőfi used his appearance in different phases of his life, whether consciously or subconsciously, as a mode of self-expression or to communicate or oppose ideas. As a child, the clothes Petőfi wore naturally reflected his parents’ tastes and the family’s financial situation, which, during his school years in Sárszentlőrinc (1831-1833) and Aszód (1835— 1838) was still relatively secure. István Sass, a loyal, lifelong friend, wrote of the period in Sárszentlőrinc, ‘The caring nature of his beloved parents, and the devotion with which his adored mother thought of everything was evident in the tidiness and variety of his clothing, which was chosen to suit the occasion and the season. My memory of his close-fitting, blue, satin, Sunday suit, which enviably followed the contours of his slim waist and emphasised so beautifully the proportions of his shoulders and hips, is so vivid that even the flat, coloured buttons have become indelibly etched in my mind. On special holidays, dressed like this and in his highly-polished shoes, he walked past rows of swept houses to school, where we assembled before being taken to church by our teacher.’ (Sass I. 1883, 882) By the end of 1838, however, the family was in grave financial difficulties and his father’s possessions had to he auctioned (Fekete 1973, 114). From then on what Petőfi wore was dictated by the army, and poverty, the latter being already discernible during his brief spell at the school in Selmecbánya (1838-39). Petőfi joined the army in the autumn of 1839 and István Sass, writing about the impression Petőfi made on him, remarked, ‘On entering the room I found a pale, puny soldier with 204
