Kalla Zsuzsa: Beszélő tárgyak. A Petőfi család relikviái (Budapest, 2006)
Rita Ratzky: Sándor Petőfi, his tastes and style
a mossy moustache and unassuming appearance sitting humbly on a plain chest, his bayonet hang- ing in his lap from a white shoulder-strap. When I greeted him he stood up in a soldierly manner and pulled his weapon to his side. When he shook my hand, the rough palm conveyed the strength of trained hands that belied his feeble appearance. His coat with its green lapels and yellow metal buttons, his trousers and boat-like boots hung off him so much it was as if they had not been made for him. Only his collar stiffener stood smartly, propping his head up on his skinny neck.’ (Sass I. 1884, 86-87) His physical condition and appearance had deteriorated still further by the time he was discharged from the army at the end of February 1841 and those who saw him in Pápa or Pozsony [today Bratislava] hardly recognised their former schoolmate and childhood friend. His second cousin, Soma Orlay Petries, wrote: ‘He wore tight blue trousers tucked into his boots, an army coat and a flat, white, felt cap with fur: the attire of discharged soldiers. A gnarled stick and a rough linen bundle, which hung from his shoulder, were all he had brought with him.’ (1879, 13) Petőfi had always been interested in acting and, in the summer of 1841, he spent three months as a strolling actor in the county of Tolna. The following October he continued his studies, enrolling in the 7th year at the school in Pápa, but this period in his life ended with an embarrassing episode, recalled by Orlay Petries: ‘One morning he had the idea of putting on his army uniform, which he had already put away, and wearing it to school. I was horrified, mainly because the teacher that day had pupils who were always annoying him with their booing, hooting and all manner of foolish things, and he was on the look out for an opportunity to take revenge on anyone he could. [...] I tried in vain to talk Petőfi out of his plan. He replied: This is a decent outfit, I have suffered greatly in it and I am not ashamed to appear in it before anyone. [...] First, the old teacher fixed him with an ominous glare and then asked angrily, “What manner of man is that?” then, recognising him, attacked him with the full force of his displeasure for the disturbance, threatened to have him expelled and ordered him to leave the room at once. When I arrived back at our flat Petőfi was already packing his belongings into his small bag.’ (1879, 15) The impression Petőfi made on those who saw him in Pozsony was even less favourable: ‘While I was walking along the Danube embankment I saw a young man in threadbare trousers and an incredibly tight, torn summer jacket’ (Szeberényi 1861, 21); ‘We saw a desperate-looking individual in tatty, light blue bonjour trousers’ (Kemény J. 1881, 144) and again: ‘a dirty-looking fellow touched me with his stick’ (Delhányi 1959, 46). His pitiful, unkempt appearance was the cause of some embarrassment when the writers Alajos Degré and Kálmán Lisznyai took him to Lajos Kuthy’s salon, where he was received ‘rather coldly’. ‘We had told Petőfi that he would receive a very warm welcome since Kuthy is a true, warm and sincere patron of young writers. We forgot, however, that in his presence an elegant appearance was the best recommendation.’ (Degré 1883, 122-123) Petőfi’s financial situation had not improved by the time he returned to Pápa to continue his studies in the autumn, and recollections by Miklós Sárközy, Sándor Kozma and Mór Jókai show that he had still not been able to replace his old army possessions. In connection with this, two things are worth mentioning about the end-of-year ceremony held at the school on 30th July 1842. The first is that, according to Orlay Petries, Petőfi recited József Gaál’s satire Olmos botok [Leaded Canes] wearing ‘a flapping shirt, buttoned trousers and wielding a club’ (1879, 347). If this is true, and Orlay Petrics’s memory was not deceiving him, then this was one of the rare occasions when Petőfi wore a peasant shirt. The second concerns the party which followed in the evening, and was recalled by Sándor Kozma, a schoolmate in Pápa. Petőfi had to borrow smart clothes for the occasion from a well-to-do student — ‘an elegant, dark green Quaker-style coat with enamelled bronze buttons, a black waistcoat, trousers and boots seamed with polished leather’ — with necktie, gloves and white top hat being donated by his friends. He was still parading in these elegant clothes the following day at the Somogy boys’ farewell party, when the boy to whom the clothes belonged bluntly and tactlessly, with everyone listening, demanded he return them. Kozma remembers Petőfi sobbing bitterly as he put on his own clothes (1883, 6-7). The fine clothes of his early childhood, the hardship of his youth and this humiliation may well have contributed to Petőfi’s great fondness for elegant and unusual things. The time Petőfi spent as a strolling player in Székesfehérvár and Kecskemét was one of destitution, a fact borne out by the numerous recollections of a particular item of clothing: a cape - dark 205
