Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1978 (6. évfolyam, 16-18. szám)
1978 / 17. szám
1 HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER BOOKS Farkas, Alexander Bölöni. JOURNEY IN NORTH AMERICA. American Philosophical Society, 104 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106,1977.288 pages, tables, illust., biblio. $7.00 paper. Original title: Utazás Észak Amerikában. Kolozsvár (Cluj), 1834. Transl. and ed. by Theodore and Helen Benedek Schoenman; Farkas, Sándor Bölöni. JOURNEY IN NORTH AMERICA, 1831. American Bibliographical Center - Clio Press, 2040 A.P.S., Riviera Campus, Box 4397. Santa Barbara, CA 93103, 1978. 238 pages, notes. $15.75 cloth. Transl. and ed. by Arpad Kadarkay. Americans are generally slow in recognizing the many ways their ideas, culture, and actions influence other peoples of the world. Farkas’ travel diary gathered dust in a few major libraries for 143 years before it was translated into English. This major work, which presented a theoretical foundation for thorough social reform in Eastern Europe, first appeared in Transylvania in 1834, one year before Alexis de Tocquille’s De la Democratie en Amerique. Now, suddenly we are privileged to have two translations available within one year. They are similar in many respect. Schoenman’s volume presents a translation of the entire original with great care to its details. It gives a 29-page introduction and shows a facsimile of the original Hungarian title page. Kadarkay takes a more liberal approach, omits portions describing Farkas’ European travel, the Atlantic crossing, the translation of the New Hampshire Constitution, and references to Captain Smith’s heroic exploits against the Turks in Hungary, as well as his involvement with Pocahontas. His introduction is 71 pages long. Both translators draw parallels between Tocqueville and Farkas as these two European travelers describe in a somewhat different frame of reference the social, economic, and political conditions in the pre-industrial United States. Tocqueville came to America with fairly well set social and political ideas, while Farkas looked at the American scene with an open mind. Farkas’s observations on the nascent American democracy so different from the traditional way of life in the Carpathian Basin (and beyond) became inspirational to contemporary advocates of change and were branded subversive by the ruling circles of the Habsburg Monarchy. Hence, the popularity of the book among those opting for political and social change. The original volume experienced two editions within two years. It was quoted frequently by leaders of the Reform Era contributing significantly to the formulation of ideas which brought about the revolution of 1848 in Hungary. Mr. Schoenman is a chemist and lives in retirement with his wife Helen Benedek Schoenman. Kadarkay is Visiting Assist. Prof, of Political Science at the U. of California, Santa Barbara. Sugar, Peter F. SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE UNDER OTTOMAN RULE, 1354-1804. U. of Washington Press, Seattle 98105, 1977. 365 pages, maps, tables, diagrams, biblio. $16.95 cloth. Vol. V. in the series A History of East Central Europe. Eds. P.F. Sugar and Donald W. Treadgold. In the framework of a unique series planned to contain eleven volumes, this study clearly reflects the objectives of the editors. It is a history in the traditional sense of the word, but it approaches an era and an area in which few historians have been able to rise above national bias. “Historians of the region have preferred to write about the past of only their own countries." I.e. about the (mostly negative) effects of the Ottoman era on their own nations. “Hithero no comprehensive history of the area as a whole has appeared in any language,” says Sugar, but rather works of ethnocentric character. In contrast, this volume is regional, comprehensive, and wholistic. While a chronological approach has been retained, the organization of the volume is geographical and topical. Thus, Transylvania as one of the regions receives special attention, but so do social organization and cultural life in general. A bibliographic essay addsgreatlyto the value of the book. The appendix contains useful reference data, such as a list of the House of Osman, that of Grand Vezirs, major military campaigns, peace treaties, territoral changes, rulers with whom the Ottomans came into contact either as enemies or as overlords. A glossary of geographical names and one on foreign words conclude the volume. The author is Prof, of History and Assoc. Director of the Institute for Comparative and Foreign Area Studies at the U. of Washington. Berend, Iván T. and György Ranki. EAST CENTRAL EUROPE IN THE 19th AND 20th CENTURIES. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1977. 164 pages, tables, biblio, illust. $12.00 cloth. The authors present a comparative cultural history of the multinational region commonly referred to as East Central Europe. The volume is different from similar writings in the West, inasmuch as it looks at history from an East European ideological vantage point, in fact from a Hungarian perspective. Comparative preferences to both East and West are numerous. First, it discusses 19th century economic, social, and political conditions in the Habsburg and Ottoman empires, i.e. feudalism, land distribution, production, modernization and industrialization as they interact with social (Continued on page 2)
