“Who is who—the face as a mask” Péter Esterházy’S autobiographical pact with his readers (Celestial Harmonies, Revised Edition)

Görözdi, Judit (2016) “Who is who—the face as a mask” Péter Esterházy’S autobiographical pact with his readers (Celestial Harmonies, Revised Edition). Hungarian Studies, 30 (1). pp. 57-72. ISSN 0236-6568

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Abstract

The much-cited theorist of autobiography, Philippe Lejeune, uses the term autobiographical pact to describe the silent contract between the author and reader, in which textual (and extra-textual) signals about referential and autobiographical nature of a narrative are understood as coming from the author and are accepted by the reader (Lejeune, 1989, 3–30). Autobiographical themes, connections and concrete allusions have always been present in Péter Esterházy’s fiction (e.g., Termelési regény, 1979; Helping Verbs of the Heart—A szív segédigéi, 1985; The Book of Hrabal—Hrabal könyve, 1990; Celestial Harmonies—Harmonia cælestis, 2000; Not Art—Semmi művészet, 2008). In this context, the text Revised Edition (Javított kiadás, 2002), written in the form of a diary, which describes a real event in the form of one of the most authentic autobiographical genres, signifies not only a change in the author’s understanding of the relationship between autobiography and literature, but also changes the reader’s expectations, i.e. the aforementioned silent covenant between him and the author. I will attempt to explicate the character of Esterházy’s autobiographical writing (understood on the one hand as autobiographical referentiality and on the other as an autobiographical way of writing¹) on the basis of the texts Celestial Harmonies and Revised Edition.

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