„And is there no one who could say how his last hour was?” – Early Theories about Sándor Petőfi’s Disappearance

Abstract

An enormous amount of literature has been written about Petőfi’s last day in the last one hundred and seventy years. My paper does not attempt to bring forth another new theory, instead, it focuses on the context and background of the parallel theories that emerged after the battle of Fehéregyháza. The corpus examined can be divided into three main groups on a thematic base: a) contradictory narratives about Petőfi’s death; b) irrational and fantastic statements about Petőfi’s survival; c) contemplative and uncertain guesses between the two narratives. Petőfi’s death was not a consensual fact yet at the time of Júlia Szendrey’s second marriage, therefore, the marriage was considered a moral sin, fraud, treachery in the eyes of many. Later a new element was added to the anti-Júlia arguments when the personal vanity of Júlia Szendrey was also included in the narrative of the course of events leading to the poet’s death. The social reaction following Júlia’s new marriage, as well as the later Júlia-reception, are also reminiscent of the scapegoating process. Questions about the wife's possible responsibility appeared in increasingly clear and direct forms. On the international stage, however, we do not see the over-heated Hungarian approach and the resulting information chaos.