Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1994. [Vol. 2.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 22)

STUDIES - Lehel Vadon: László Országh, the Founder of American Studies in Hungary.

searchers, in order to assure the success of American Studies in Hungary. 7. The establishment of American Studies departments in Hungary as soon as possible.

1

5 8. The launching of scholarship-financed research and the organization of teacher exchange programs. 9. The establishment of a reference library to promote university level teaching and research. Not only did László Országh establish this new discipline, but he also inaugurated a new field of academic inquiry. In addition to laying out a program he turned many elements of his recommendations to reality, and the development of American Studies in Hungary depends on his intellectual and professional guidance to this day. Országh devoted a significant portion of his scholarly activities to the analysis of Hungarian

—English and Hungarian

—American cultural relations.

1

6 His exemplary microphilological essay, Misztóífalusi Kis and the First Hungarian Book about America}

1 presents a thorough scholarly analysis of Increase Mather's De Successu Evangelii apud Indos in Nova Anglia, Epistola ad cl. virum D. Johannem Leusdenum, Linguage Sanctae in Uitrajectina Academia Pro/essorem, scripta a Crescendo Mathero, apud Bostonienses V. D. M. nec non Coliegii Harvardini quod est Cantabrigiae 1

5 I can still hear his testament-like words uttered to me during our last meeting in December 1983: "My son, do not stop the compilation of the bibliography of American literature, and when the time comes establish independent departments of American Studies." The establishment of a separate department of American Studies was always in his mind and he even thought of it when he was mortally ill. His disciples fulfilled his wish and the first department of American Studies was established on January 1, 1990, soon to be followed by departments in Debrecen and Budapest 1

6 Lehel Vadon, Országh László (Eger: Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola nyomdája, 1994) 37—41. 17 » László Országh, "Misztóífalusi Kis és az első magyar könyv Amerikáról," f= Mistótfalusi Kis and the First Hungarian Book about America.] Magyar Könyvszemle 1 (1958): 22— 41. — László Országh, "A Seventeenth-Century Hungarian Translation of a Work by Increase Mather," American Literature 34 (1962): 94—96. 149