Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2000. [Vol. 6.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)
Book reviews - András Tarnóc: Tibor Frank: Ethnicity, Propaganda, Myth-Making: Studies on Hungarian Connections to Britain and America 1848-1945.
Counter hegemonic culture projections toward the U.S. primarily fall into two categories, immigration related issues and aspirations designed to gain political support for the causes of the post1848 exile community and for the revision of the Treaty of Trianon. The counter hegemonic culture projection process entails the reception or acknowledgement of the image sent by the less privileged entity on the part of the dominant country. In Frank's analysis of the picture of the U. S. created by returning immigrant inmates of mental asylums the duality of intercultural communication can be discerned, as the America image of mentally unstable immigrants is a result of the U.S. showing its "inhospitable, unaccommodating face" (140). These broken and shattered dreams are produced by two groups of people, either suffering from mental illness prior to emigration, or developing mental instability during the American experience. Frank's investigation reveals that the condition defined by Dr. László Epstein as "emigration psychosis" (137) is usually brought on by financial strain. Another example of a counter hegemonic impulse is the failed effort to publish a historical overview of Hungary tailor-made to the tastes and preferences of Anglo-Saxon readers, to counteract the potentially damaging consequences of the publication of R. W. SetonWatson's A History of the Rumanians: From Roman Times to the Completion of Unity (1934). Whereas the purported work was an example in therapeutic historiography, it is worthwhile to note that Seton-Watson's book amounted to hegemonic culture projection eliciting a counter hegemonic response in Hungary. The planned publication of the English and French version of The History of Hungary however, fell victim to backbiting and to professional and personal tensions between the organizer of the publishing efforts, József Balogh and its chief contributors, the noted historian, Gyula Szekfíx. Despite these failed efforts works aiming to familiarize the Anglo-Saxon reading public with the Hungarian past were produced by Domokos Kosáry and Joseph Eugene Tersánszky. Polarization , or the rejection of culture projection can be discerned in Frank's analysis of the relationship between Marx and Kossuth. The author provides a detailed analysis of the political and cultural dynamics of the post 1848 émigré world. The Hungarian immigrant community divided between Kossuth and Szemere is juxtaposed to Marx's exile career. Taking advantage of the misinformation 228
