Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1976 (4. évfolyam, 9-12. szám)
1976 / 9. szám
ARTICLES (Continued) volved in the competitive markets of the free world, and Hungary has made gains toward becoming one of the leading corn producing nations. The profits of both Hungary and the American companies that are involved are encouraging. □ Sakmyster, Thomas L., “Army Officers and Foreign Policy in Interwar Hungary 1918-1941.” Journal of Contemporary History 10 (Jan. 1975) 19-40. During the interwar period, the military assumed a disproportionate influence in the political affairs of Hungary. Though most Hungarian statesmen hoped for a peaceful revision of the borders, the right-wing radicals, particularly the military, saw force as the only means of achieving these ends, and viewed the power build-up in Germany as a model. Horthy’s support of the military facilitated their effort in establishing a strong power base. Imre'dy favored the plans of the officer corps, but his successor, Teleki, kept Hungary out of the war in 1939. When Teleki’s protests were disregarded at the time of the Yugoslav invasion, he committed suicide. The mysterious bombing of Kassa on June 26, blamed on Soviet planes precipitated Hungary into the war against Russia. The aircraft which bombed this northern Hungarian city was never identified. Both the government and the press considered it an unprovoked attack by Russian war planes. Sakmyster, however, suggests it was a ploy of the General Staff to force the hand of the government. He bases this suggestion on the great independence and arrogance the military had gained by 1941 and a plan devised by Lt. Col. Homlok in 1938. Homlok, who was military attache' in Berlin in 1941, was well-situated to carry out his earlier plans. It is, however, also possible that the plans were used by German intelligence. Prof. Sakmyster is at the U. of Cincinnati. □ Sanders, Ivan, “The Ironic Hungarian: Tibor Dery at Eighty,” Books Abroad 49 (Winter 1975) 12-18. This review of the career of Tibor De'ry emphasizes his works as expressive of his complex and ironic attitude. Though a member of the Writers Board of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, and unable to publish during the Horthy era because of his leftistviews, De'ry also served three years of a six-year prison term for his part in the uprising of 1956. His political and social works reflect “a wavering between idealism and cynicism, between collectivism and individualism." Dery’s perennial themes, however, areold age and youth, death and renewal, seen in Two Women, Reckoning, and Dear Beaupere. Always an innovator in style, De'ry used the realist tradition in the ’50’s and early ’60’s, but has returned to experimentation in the Kafkaesque novel Mr. A.G. in X and the ostensibly historical novel The Excommunicator. Professor Sanders is at Suffolk Community Coll., Seiden, NY. □ Szent-lvány, J.J.H. and Elisabeth I.V. Ujhazy, “Ephemoroptera in the Regimen of Some New Guinea People and in Hungarian Folksongs,” Eatonia 17 (Sept. 10, 1973) 1-6. This paper grew out of a conversation on the different uses of the mayfly species which in New Guinea are collected as a delicacy and which in Hungary are a common theme in folksong as a symbol of brief love. A letter from Mr. Jim Taylor, a coffee planter in New Guinea, describes the deep blanket the mayflies form over the river when they swarm, MISCELLANEOUS NEWS HUNGARIANS IN AMERICA, a biographical directory of professionals of Hungarian origin in the Americas is planning its fourth edition for 1976 under the editorship of Desi K. Bognár, presently a Fulbright scholar at the U. of Ibadan, Nigeria. For review of the previous edition see HSN no. 3. Persons interested in seeing the volume as broad and as accurate as possible should write to Hungarians in America, P.O. Box 8, Mt. Vernon, NY 10552. □ The 14th International Congress of the Historical Sciences took place at San Francisco in August 1975. A sizable delegation of Hungarian historians, headed by Party historian Dezsc^Nemes, attended the congress and several of them participated as experts, reporters, presidents of sessions, and at least five of them presented papers. Papers related to Hungarian history were given by J. Perenyi, “The Ottoman Expansion and the Rise of the East European Centralized States;" by T. Erényi, “Sozialistische Revolution und bürgerlich-demokratische Reform in der Arbeiterbewegung der zerfallenen Österreich-Ungarischen Monarchie;” and by G. Sze'kely, “Towns and Languages in East Central Europe.” Other papers presented by Hungarian historians included J. Jemnitz’s “Revolution and Reform in the West European Parties of the Second International;” and A. Mocsy’s “Der Limes und die Provinzen.” □ (Continued on page 6) and the success hehad in serving a meal of these creatures to a guest. In Hungary, a well-known folksong mentions these insects under the common name tiszavirág (Tisza-flower) because after 24 hours of swarming they die and fall into the river, floating on it like so many flowers. Two poems in which the mayfly is mentioned are given, both in the original and in English. The folksong, “When in the Spring the Tisza Blossoms” is translated by Szent-lvány. The second, an original song by Dr. Dezső Mihalik, was translated and supplied by Elisabeth Ujha'zy, niece of the composer and “connoisseur” of Hungarian folksongs in South Australia. In the original folksong, the first stanza accurately describes the swarming of the mayflies, ending on the poinant note that none of them live “to the count of a hundred.” The second stanza then gives the human parallel “our love, too, ended as soon as it blossomed, though my two eyes still shed tears as I long for the Tisza to bloom.” Mihalik’s song also laments the brevity of love, here specified as man’s love, in the recounting of by the girl of the eternal vow he had sworn, and the failure of the promised letter to arrive. The last line makes a direct statement: “Man’s love is like a mirage and Tisza-flower.” The author is Honorary Associate in Entomology, South Australian Museum, Adelaide. □ Hungarian Studies in English (Angol Filológiai Tanulmányok), Debrecen, Kossuth Lajos Tudomány Egyetem, Angol Tansze'k kiadványai. This journal, which began in 1967, makes a contribution to Anglo-Hungarian studies. It has recently carried articles on such diverse subjects as the attempt to curb Hungarian emigration to the U.S. before 1914 (Ra'cz), on reports of 19th century travelers in the Post-Civil War U.S. (Katona), on Hemingway (P. Egri), and on the writings of a Hungarian traveler in 17th century England (J. Jankovics). The editor is Anna Katona. □ NO. 9 1976 HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER 5
