Peter Fabri:
A Few Words About My Tales
Content of the Book
"A 'high' civilization shall contain whatever is necessary (in educational and religious institutions) to maintain the necessary wisdom in the human population and to give physical, aesthetic, and creative satisfaction to people. There shall be a matching between the flexibility of people and that of the civilization. There shall be diversity in the civilization, not only to accommodate the genetic and experiential diversity of persons, but also to provide the flexibility and 'preadaptation' necessary for unpredictable change."
Gregory Bateson: Ecology and Flexibility in Urban Civilization. (In: Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Ballantine Books, New York, N.Y. 1972, p. 495)
I wrote my tales (that were published in 1986 in Hungarian at the Móra-Kozmosz Publishing House, with the title Az elvarázsolt hangok, that is, The Enchanted Voices), as a complete and coherent book. Choosing the genre of tale as a form of expression I opposed an impersonal, faceless world on purpose. Tales, being always related, are matters of personal relationship. In my view impersonality isn't a necessary result of the disintegration of homogeneous cultures. In fact, this disintegration may serve as a base for a new mutual understanding: that which is built upon the cult of individuality. My tales were written in the spirit of this new sense of personality.
These tales are about and written for my friends - all of these tales were written for the person delt with. Through the variety of personalities the book takes its form by the notion of pluralism. I used namely different traditions in the diverse tales. There are Chinese, Japanese, Scottish, German, Norwegian, Hungarian plots in the book though none of the stories is a real traditional one, as all of them but one - which is based on a story from Ovidius - were invented by me.
The real reason for doing this was not to stylize the surface of the text. Stylization is a result. The reason is that the hero of every tale is a different person and the difference between these personalities is symbolized by the different media, the different traditions and surroundings.
This results in a democratic, fair and fairy universe in regard both to the personalities and the different national cultures and traditions.
On the basis of all these I think it reasonable that my tales are traditionally written stories. As people are people from top to toe, a tale is a real one if it has a beginning and an end. And the mystery is hovering between these poles. Just like once upon a time.
Budapest, 1989. June 14
