Századok – 2019
2019 / 3. szám - EGY REFORMKORI ÉLETPÁLYA ÚJ KONTEXTUSAI. TANULMÁNYOK BÁRÓ WESSELÉNYI MIKLÓSRÓL - Priszlinger Zoltán: Kortársi szövegek és olvasatok ifj. Wesselényi Miklós testéről
KORTÁRSI SZÖVEGEK ÉS OLVASATOK IFJ. WESSELÉNYI MIKLÓS TESTÉRŐL 608 CONTEMPORARY TEXTS ABOUT THE BODY OF MIKLÓS WESSELÉNYI, JR. By Zoltán Priszlinger SUMMARY There are very few personalities in Hungarian history whose evocation conjures up such strong images of the „body” as the case of Miklós Wesselényi, Jr. (1796–1850). The Baron was conceived as a „ phenomenon” by his contemporaries, and notions and deeds linked to the body were thought to be integral to this phenomenon. The study explores this body-dominated image of the Baron on the basis of contemporary diaries, memoirs, letters, speeches and poems. It seeks to address how he was viewed by his contemporaries, what they wanted to see, and what they did see when looking at him. What was the image they formed when Wesselényi’s name was mentioned, and how did they pin down their impressions? The paper also aims to reveal the points of orientation that determined the framework of the mode of speech about the Wesselényi phenomenon, and the ways in which the former limited or helped the authors of texts about the Baron’s body.
