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ENIKŐ SEPSI
Another poem by Pilinszky, Hommage a Sheryl Sutton I, offers a good example
of how a ritual act broadens its significations through Sheryl Sutton’s acting
in a manner that suggests that motivation and situation are not inherent to
her. There is no sign of any kind of willingness, neither spontaneous nor pre¬
meditated. This via negativa of poetic creation forms the basis of Pilinszky’s
ars poetica.
A lehető legszűkebb térben In the narrowest possible space
végrehajtottad, amit nem szabad. you achieved the forbidden.
Csodálkoztál a szertartáson, You marvelled at the ceremony
mely vágóhíd, bár nincs kiterjedése, which is a slaughter-house, though it has no dimension,
könyökig er, bar nincsen ideje. reaches to the elbow, though it is not in time.
Csak kesöbb hallottad, amit Only later did you hear what
letakartál. Majd belépve a kertbe you have withheld, then entering the garden
elámultál a telehold varázsán. you were astonished by the magic of the full moon.”°
Hommage a Sheryl Sutton II refers to a swimming movement which, according
to Sheryl herself, was her strength and which made motion almost impercep¬
tible.
The significance of Pilinszky’s choice of poetry as a means of expressing
his engagement with Deafman Glance leads us to the very center of Pilin¬
szky’s aesthetic. Pilinszky had insight into and experiences with the world of
theater, without, however, having been in daily contact with the practice of
the theater. His approach remained that of a poet. The poems written about
Deafman Glance recycle the main subjects of Pilinszky’s poetry: murder as a
Passion, part of the Mass; witnessing as the ontological status of humankind,
immobility as the proper movement of poetry, the present tense of poetry,
which is a praesens perfectum perpetuum, i.e., a present which not only affects
presence, but which is reproduced over and over again.
CONCLUSION
In his lecture given at Collége de France,” Grotowski distinguishes two ten¬
dencies in theater. He terms the first one “artificiel” (from ars, artis), in which
all elements of the performance are precisely developed and, in a sense, the
“montage” of these elements is not realized on stage but as an effect of the
Aa János Pilinszky: The Desert of Love. (Selected Poems translated by Janos Csokits and Ted
Hughes), Anvil Press, 1989 (Carcanet Press, 1976), 71.
22 Jerzy Grotowski: Anthropologie théâtrale. La «lignée organique» au théâtre et dans le rituel,
Paris, Le livre qui parle, Collection Collège de France, 1997.
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